Profile: International Center for the Settlement of Investment Disputes (ICSID)

In the midst of a massive financial collapse, the private water company Aguas Argentinas—struggling to pay its external debts—insists that Argentina either implement a fixed peso-dollar exchange rate for its debt payments or allow it to increase water rates by 42 percent. When the Argentine government refuses, Aguas Argentinas threatens to take the country to the International Center for the Settlement of Investment Disputes. The ICSID is part of the World Bank, which owns a five percent stake in the company (see (Early 1994)). Argentina attempts to block Aguas Argentinas from going to the ICSID, but France, where the consortium is based, acts to permit it. [Santoro, 2/6/2003; Public Citizen, 6/14/2007]