Article 25 of the ICSID Convention requires that there be an “investment” dispute, that is, a “legal dispute arising directly out of an investment,” between a Contracting Party and a national of another Contracting Party, in order that the ICSID’s jurisdictional requirements may be satisfied.
The ICSID Convention does not delimit the term “investment,” leaving to the Contracting Parties a large measure of freedom to define that term as their specific objectives and circumstances may lead them to do.
In this case, the BIT between the Swiss Confederation and the Islamic Republic of Pakistan does contain a definition of “investment.”