Mexico stops requesting international arbitration on renewable energies from Canadian funds

The government reported on Wednesday that it has stayed an international arbitration request against the country brought by Canadian investment funds Caisse de dépôt et Place du Québec (CDPQ) and CDP Groupe Infrastructures Inc over renewable energy matters.

The claims were registered on December 15 with the World Bank's International Center for Settlement of Investment Disputes (ICSID), according to the organization's website, calling the Comprehensive and Progressive Agreement for Trans-Pacific Partnership (TIPAT).

In a statement, the Ministry of Economy reported the agreement reached “to search for a satisfactory solution without the need to use the dispute settlement mechanism between investors and the state,” according to TIPAT.

He added that the claim was originally submitted by the two Canadian funds on November 27 “in their name and on behalf of certain companies registered in Mexico,” whose identity was not detailed, and was not registered until the middle of this month.

The lawsuit referred to the “electric energy and other energies” sectors, and was directed against the General Directorate of Legal Consultations for International Trade of the Mexican Secretariat, according to the International Center for Settlement of Investment Disputes.

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Mexico stops requesting international arbitration on renewable energy from Canadian funds

The statement issued by the government agency concluded that “the Ministry of Economy renews its commitment to dialogue between companies to find a solution within those stipulated in the treaty.”

During his term, which began in 2018 and ends in 2024, President Andrés Manuel López Obrador promoted legal changes to favor the state's Federal Electricity Commission (CFE), giving it an edge over foreign and renewable energy companies, some of which are from Canada.

In response to the concerns of Canadian renewable energy companies, Lopez Obrador spoke about the matter in January with the Prime Minister of the North American country, Justin Trudeau, at a meeting in the Mexican capital, where he later received representatives of several companies from that country. Country.country.

An official familiar with the matter later said the companies involved would be pension fund La Caisse de dépôt et placement du Québec (CDPQ), ATCO Ltd ACOx.TO, Northland Power Inc and Canadian Solar Inc CSIQ.O.

Canada and the United States also requested consultations on resolving the dispute with Mexico in July 2022, arguing that López Obrador's nationalistic energy policies violate the USMCA.

With information from Reuters.

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