UN General Assembly
2014

judicial cooperation, and even though Julian Assange’s lawyers expressed their willingness to cooperate. Turning to another subject, and with this I will conclude my statement, I would like to speak about transnational corporations. In recent years, there have been increased demands brought by transnational corporations in international arbitration courts against the States and peoples of the South. Those multimillion dollar disputes, such as the Chevron-Texaco case in Ecuador, threaten the tax resources and jeopardize the validity and legitimacy of the national jurisdiction of the States concerned. The scale of the problem could even compromise the development plans of the countries of the South, in Latin America and other regions of the world. In that context, we are also establishing, within the framework of UNASUR, a regional arbitration centre that will, inter alia, provide legal advice in investment disputes. We are also creating a code of conduct for arbitrators and mediators within UNASUR. And we are establishing, with other regions of the world, an observatory on transnational corporations. All of that is aimed at creating support mechanisms that can analyse,