An international arbitration tribunal on April 23 rejected all claims made against the Slovak Republic by Dutch citizens A.J. Oostergetel and T. Laurentius in an investment dispute, the Finance Ministry announced on May 2, as reported by the TASR newswire.
The ministry said this is the fourth case of international litigation that has ended in Slovakia's favour related to a bilateral investment agreement signed by Czechoslovakia and the Netherland.
The litigation with the two Dutch individuals began in 2006 over an alleged violation of an agreement signed by Czechoslovakia and the Netherlands on support and mutual protection of investments. The initiators of the arbitration claimed that Slovakia's idleness and other activities caused a well-known factory producing thread in Bratislava to go bankrupt, costing them €298 million.
"The Slovak Republic believes that this decision shows that foreign investors who intend to sue Slovakia in international courts for speculative reasons must be prepared for the state to defend itself properly and they may suffer high costs related to arbitration," stated the Finance Ministry, as quoted TASR.
Source: TASR
Compiled by Zuzana Vilikovská from press reports
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