The ISLP’s Director for Sustainable Development, Katerina Drisi, attended the 18th SADCLA Annual Conference and General Meeting IN 2017. In her capacity as a panelist at a session on extractive industry agreements and environmental regulation compliance, she introduced delegates to ISLP’s pro bono model and to the work and involvement of the CONNEX Unit. With support from CONNEX, ISLP provides assistance for governments negotiating with international contractors on large projects. In a follow up interview the journalist Carmel Rickard, Katerina said “A government needs to get the best deals possible for the citizens of its country. The (ISLP sponsored legal) experts who would come in to help have usually been involved in thousands of contracts and are often able to call the bluff of the international companies. They know the trends. They might know the terms agreed to by these companies in other deals, for example, and could use that information to secure a better deal for the government.”
The article can be read here. For more information on CONNEX, click here.