On January 25-28, CLDP conducted a workshop for high-level Iraqi officials from the Iraqi State Shura Council, the Council of Ministers Secretariat, the Council of Representatives (Parliament), and heads of legal departments for the Iraqi Ministries of Oil, Trade, Transportation, Justice and Planning.  The workshop featured international experts in investor-state arbitration who have represented both sovereign parties and investors in past arbitrations in addition to providing advice to governments on handling investor disputes. The primary goals of this workshop were to help Iraq understand its international obligations under its existing bilateral investment treaties (BITs), specifically in light of Iraq’s recent ratification of the ICSID Convention, to develop mechanisms to prevent disputes from arising, and to effectively manage the inevitable disputes that Iraq is unable to prevent.  A secondary objective of the workshop was to finalize a guidebook for Iraq’s legal directorates on drafting effective arbitration clauses as a way to minimize disputes with foreign parties. The guidebook includes a step by step guide for government lawyers on how to construct an international arbitration clause that will be binding and enforceable as a way to facilitate negotiations with foreign parties in a manner that is compliant with Iraqi law. As a result of the workshop, a new version of the guidebook was developed including a new section on investor-state arbitration.