CYIL vol. 11 (2020)

CYIL 11 (2020) SOVEREIGN WEALTH FUND mandate of the forum is merely to “help” maintain a global financial system and the free flow of capital and investment. 92 The Forum is, in essence, a loose global network of SWFs. Arguably, the IMF recommended the establishment of the Forum to compensate for its own weakness in regulating SWFs and in addressing the concerns of recipient countries. The “formal” IMF bolsters the “informal” forum to try to resolve the lack of formal public international law –treaty, custom and general principles of law – in respect of SWFs. General principles of law, as a source of public international law under Article 38(1)(c), are, in fact, inspired by domestic law principles, and these are, in particular, domestic private law principles. 93 The Santiago Principles may target such a status, too. By incentivizing countries to comply with certain principles with regard to SWFs, a change in the national laws of countries is the objective. Indeed, the Santiago Principles smack of domestic law principles and the IFSWF’s member governments – purportedly – administer their SWFs in the light of those principles on a voluntary basis. Arguably, the administration of SWFs takes place through these “domestic” principles, which might eventually be translated into general principles of law under international law. 8. Conclusion The SWF is a matter for national law, not international law. This is a reflection of the principle of national sovereignty. Rather than public international law, national law regulates and supervises SWFs. The politicization of SWFs becomes all the more conspicuous due to the lethargy of public international law in the field. Therefore, every state is free to treat foreign SWFs as it sees fit. States are not obliged to treat foreign SWFs in the same manner. Bilateral and ‘particular’ relations between the home governments of SWFs and recipient governments may step in. The only serious international legal initiative to regulate SWFs to date, the Santiago Principles, merely recommend some self-disciplinary measures for SWFs and the countries that have SWFs. They have still not transformed into binding public international law.

Forum of Sovereign Wealth Funds, 6 April 2009, A. Purpose of the Forum, p. 1. Accessible at https://www.ifswf. org/santiago-principles-landing/kuwait-declaration (Accessed on 02/04/2020). 92 Ibid., B.(1)-Mandate of the Forum, p. 2. 93 BROWNLIE, Ian, Principles of Public International Law, Seventh Edition, Oxford University Press, New York, 2008, pp. 16-17.

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