This Tribunal may take judicial notice of the fact that, during the period between 1989 and 1991,
when the IPPA was agreed and ratified, respectively, the USSR was rapidly transforming itself, its
economy, and its foreign trade relations with other countries, particularly the Member states of the
European Union, including the United Kingdom.
13. By 1989, the USSR's economy, based on state foreign trade monopoly and centralised economic
state planning, was moving away from a closed socialist economy towards an open-market economy,
significantly increasing the need for inward foreign investment. This transition took place more quickly
than could have been imagined.
14. Between 1989 and the end of 1990, the USSR agreed to fourteen BITs, including the IPPA. The
USSR ratified all fourteen simultaneously on 29 May 1991.