The idea of a Multilateral Investment Court seems to be one of the most prominent initiatives of the “multilateralization” of international investment law during this century. The creation of a new international, permanent court concentrated on settling investor – state disputes is an extraordinary challenge. Possible problems relate not only to the negotiations concerning the organizational and procedural aspects necessary to ensure the efficient operation of this type of body. It is also necessary to take into account the dynamics of the functioning of international adjudication as such, as well as the controversies surrounding the international legal protection of foreign investments.

This article explores investment protection under Chinese international investment agreements (IIAs), particularly under the China-Poland bilateral investment treaty (BIT). As a state that both imports and exports foreign direct investment, China currently promotes balanced and safeguarded BITs that protect its increasing overseas investments and preserves the necessary space to regulate in the public interest. The Chinese government remains reluctant to be directly involved in investment arbitration as a respondent, while Chinese investors are active in taking advantage of the IIAs’ regime. When compared to China’s recent treaty practice and new developments in global investment governance, the China-Poland BIT is relatively outdated in terms of investment protection, promotion, social clauses, and dispute settlement. In terms of the investment protection effects of BITs, China is seemingly in a more urgent position to update the China-Poland BIT. However, if we evaluate the overall effects of a modernized BIT on investment promotion, regulation, and dispute settlement, an updated China-Poland BIT will fit the interests of both the Polish and Chinese governments. Notwithstanding the on-going negotiation between the EU and China, this article aims, along with presenting the Chinese practice regarding BITs, to describe de lege lata the state of protection offered to Chinese and Polish investors under the China-Poland BIT.

This article presents the results of studies assesing the significance of the most important macro- and microeconomic factors affecting investors’ propensity to invest in mining. The Polish mining industry in recent years has seen intensive restructuring processes which have considerably affected the status of fixed assets required for the exploitation of useful minerals. In order to efectively manage technological progress in mining plants, it is necessary to understand the role of individual, variable factors influencing investors’ propensity tomake specific expenditures. In the analysis, mathematical statistics and econometric modelling methods were applied to determine the nature of correlations between the values studied and their significance. This examination applied statistical data accumulated by economic entities from 2000–2010. A linear econometric model waspresented illustrating the relationship between capital expenditure in mining and such indicators as fixed assetsvalue, GDP, real interest rate, consumption levels of fixed asset components in mining, and various other factors. Structural parameters of a function specifying the level of investment expenditure can be determined based on statistical data which has been appropriately processed so that the model constructed reflects the economic process studied in relevant way.

Such a model is not free of defects typical in statistical models; however, it simultaneously enables one toobtain valuable information concerning the impact of the factors studied on the value of such expenditure, and the theoretical possibilities to exchange the specific quantity of one factor for another factor. In the final version of the model, it is often sufficient to include only these independent variables which contribute the most essential information to the independent variable. This often simplifies the final form of the model without simultaneous limiting of its importance in explaining the economic phenomenon studied and the possibilities of its practical application. In the final selection of significant variables captured in the model, the method of information capacity indicators was used.

Taking the importance of time and risk into account has a significant impact on the value of

investment projects. Investments in the energy sector are long-term projects and, as such, are burdened

with uncertainty associated with the long-term freezing of capital and obtaining the expected

return. In the power industry, this uncertainty is increased by factors specific to the sector,

including in particular changes in the political and legal environment and the rapid technological

development. In the case of discounted cash flow analysis (DCF), commonly used for assessing the

economic efficiency of investments, the only parameter expressing investor uncertainty regarding

investment opportunities is the discount rate, which increases with the increasing risk of the project.

It determines the value of the current project, thus becoming an important criterion affecting

investors’ decisions. For this reason, it is of great importance for the assessment of investment

effectiveness. This rate, usually in the form of the weighted average cost of capital (WACC), generally

includes two elements: the cost of equity capital and borrowed capital. Due to the fluctuant

relationship between these two parameters in project financing, performing a WACC analysis in

order to compare the risks associated with the different technologies is not completely justified.

A good solution to the problem is to use the cost of equity. This article focuses on the analysis of this

cost as a measure of risk related to energy investments in the United States, Europe and worldwide.

A number of thorough studies characterizing national and regional innovation systems have been published over the last years but what is relatively new is the theme of local innovation systems. In the era of increasing emphasis on urban issues in the development policies of countries and organizations such as the European Union and the location of innovation in the centre of regional development debate, it is justifi ed to ask how the measures are directed to the provincial cities. The article concentrates on 5 voivodeship cities as the main centers of regions with the highest number of institutions that usually build local innovation systems, three of which are located in the less developed regions in Poland.

In the 2014–2020 programming period, two new tools were introduced by the EU cohesion policy, namely Smart Specialisation (SS) and Integrated Territorial Investments (ITI). Their implementation aims at contributing on the one hand to activating and strengthening endogenic potentials, including those based on knowledge and innovation, and on the other hand to territorialisation of intervention for the purpose of obtaining competitive advantages or regions. The tools are based on two concepts of the development policy: smart specialisation and place-based and territorial approach to development. The article presents the rationale and prospective impact of the implementation of the tools on development programming of selected regions of Poland. Detailed analyses cover the provisions of the ITI Strategy of the Functional Urban Areas (FUAs) of Poznań (Wielkopolskie Voivodeship), Subregion Centralny (Śląskie Voivodeship), and Lublin (Lubelskie Voivodeship), as well as regional and national operational programmes in terms of potential contribution of the implementation of ITI to the strengthening of regional SS in some of the Polish region. The analyses performed for the three groups of Thematic Objectives (TO) of ESIF 2014–2020 (corresponding with 3 pillars of the Europe 2020 Strategy), i.e. ‘smart’ – TO 1–3; ‘sustainable’ – TO 4–7; and ‘inclusive’ – TO 8–10, show that the ‘sustainable’ group (in majority represented by companies from sections F, H) refers to infrastructure projects, often of a transport network; the ‘inclusive’ group is ascribed to companies from sections Q and P to generally ‘soft’ projects related to the development of social services, and ’smart‘ is related to sections M, F, J. Only in the case of 8% of projects (out of 78 analysed) it was stipulated that preferences would be given to the existing or newly established companies the profile of activity of which corresponds to regional SS. Such projects deal with the support for companies in the scope of business incubators and expansion of vocational education infrastructure in terms of adjustment to the needs of key sectors selected in RIS3 strategies of particular regions. In all of the analysed FUAs, ITI measures support regional SS in the framework of TO 3 and TO 10. The projects will be primarily implemented by companies from PCA sections M, F and P. The proposed methodology gives prospects to the analysis of future impact of interventions on the growth of the smart specialisation potential of the analysed FUAs PC.

The rapid development of the global economy has led to an increasing demand for resources. The disparity between the supply and demand of resources continues to be prominent and shows a situation of short supply. Resource investment projects with large amounts and long construction periods face many risks due to various unpredictable factors. Cultural, legal, economic and other environments vary between different countries. Therefore, comprehensive risk identification, understanding, evaluation, and analysis are important prerequisites for the success of mineral investment. In this paper, the risk of mineral resources investment in host countries is identified. A risk evaluation index system is established to objectively evaluate the risk environment of the host country. The risk evaluation index system includes four first-level indexes: political and legal risk, social and cultural risk, economic and financial risk, and natural risk. The subjective weight was determined by sending questionnaires to experts and scholars in the industry and conducting data processing. The entropy method was used to determine the objective weight. Finally, the subjective weight and the objective weight were combined to obtain a group of scientific and accurate combined weights. The matter-element theory was introduced into the cloud model and a risk assessment model based on the cloud matter-element theory was constructed with comprehensive consideration of the fuzziness and randomness of risks. Eight countries with relatively rich mineral resources were taken as cases to verify the model application. The research results provide a theoretical basis and decision-making methods for mineral enterprise investment.

The fact that mines have to be established at the place where they are located without having a chance to choose a location brings out area usage conflicts with areas that need to be protected. In fact, forestlands are most common in these overlapping areas in Turkey. In order to perform mining activities in this overlapping forestlands, mining enterprises in Turkey receive forest land permit fees (FLPF), reforestation fees, rehabilitation fees + security deposit of conformity to the environment (SDCE), and other fees. In order to determine the share of these costs in mining investments and operating costs (OC) and to bring a solution proposal so that these costs do not pose a risk of loss of the investment in the mining enterprises, questions have been asked to mining enterprises within Turkey using the “Survey Monkey” program. The averages of all forest fees determined from the answers are proportioned to the mining investment amounts (MIA) and the annual average OC of each mining company responding to the Survey.

Thus, the distribution criteria of different forest fees that are required to be paid by the mining enterprises in order to carry out mining operations in the forestlands in Turkey and their distribution on the basis of mineral groups were analyzed. In this calculation, it was suggested that all the fees in Turkey should be reduced to a more reasonable degree by suggesting solutions regarding the calculation method envisaged by the FLPF, which has a very high share. Otherwise, the result of these rates shows that the costs of forest land-use for mining stipulated by the legislation in Turkey are quite high compared to other countries, and that the current mining investments can have difficulty in maintaining their economic operability in the presence of these required costs.

The successful design and implementation of hydroengineering projects crucially rests upon three collaborative pillars of research: field observations, physical models, and mathematical models.

In the manufacturing sector, the processing of magnesium alloys through the liquid casting route is one of the promising methods to manufacture automotive and aircraft components, for their excellent mechanical properties at the lower weight. Investment casting process has the great cabaility to produce near net shape complex castings for automotive and aircraft applications. The distinct and attractive engineering properties of magnesium alloys have shown to be promising in terms of its potential to replace materials such as cast iron, steel, and aluminum In this regard, the efforts to develop processing technology for these alloys for their wide range of applications in industries have been reported by the scientific and engineering community. For successful production of magnesium alloy castings, it requires specialized foundry techniques because of the particular chemical and physical properties of magnesium; especially the reactive and oxidative nature of these alloys. The industry is young enough, to tap the potential.

Sufficient national fossil resources and an independent water supply system are indispensable elements of the security structure of any state. Energy independence, as a factor in determining self -sufficiency, is now a basic requirement for countries or regions wishing to develop independently and freely. The purpose of this research is to identify the specifics of the European energy strategy in the Central Asian region by considering the basic areas of cooperation between the parties in this sector of the economy. This research paper has been prepared primarily using the following methods: historical, statistical, prognostic, synthesis, comparison and system analysis methods. The research delves into the intricate dynamics of foreign policy activities of European Union members concerning energy resources, particularly in a historical context. Analyzing the collaboration between Brussels and Central Asian nations, both positive and adverse facets of this alliance in the energy domain have been pinpointed. Special attention is paid to the relationship between the European Union and the Republic of Kazakhstan, emphasizing its role within the broader security framework of the region and the continent. The study offers practical recommendations for enhancing state energy strategies and fostering productive bilateral and multilateral energy partnerships.
The results and conclusions of the presented work can be used as a foundation for the development of practical recommendations to establish and improve the energy strategies of the states, and for planning bilateral and multilateral mutually beneficial cooperation in the energy sector.

The article reviews the integrated territorial investments carried out in the Opolskie Voivodeship in the financial perspective 2014-2020. The object of the analysis was the Opole Agglomeration as the only of five functional areas of the Opolskie Voivodeship, where beneficiaries of funds from European Funds are located within this investment policy development policy.

The aim of this article is to identify the role, that special residential law issued by the municipal executive authorities plays in the metropolises development. The article presents key urban and legal barriers related to the functioning of the spacial management system. The article ends with recommendations for further actions related to repair local spatial policy.

Today’s cities tend to “pour out” beyond their administrative boundaries. This phenomenon is related to the settlement of people “from the city” in neighboring municipalities, or taking up jobs in cities by people living in neighboring municipalities. This has been recognized in the European Union, which has introduced appropriate legal instruments for cohesion policy. Integrated Territorial Investments were introduced to the EU cohesion policy for the fi rst time in the 2014-2020 fi nancial perspective. Their goal was to intensify cooperation between cities and their functional areas. Unfortunately, the emerging information about diffi culties in implementing ITIs often become the basis for considering this idea ineff ective. The purpose of the work is qualitative and quantitative verifi cation of the operation of ITU based on selected data, so that it is possible to answer the question about the validity of the existence of this instrument.

The study presents the critical evaluation of existing drainage systems from legal, eco-nomical, environmental and technical viewpoints. Nearly 80% of agricultural land in Lithuania drained by underground drainage systems covers around 3 million hectares. The prevailing large scale drainage systems with a complex of engineering structures such as conducting ditches, drains and collectors, local roads, bridges or farm road-crossings, dikes, dams, water reservoirs, pumping stations for irrigation and for drainage need today an efficient management solution in a new economic situation. The detailed analysis of legal and economic instruments adopted in transferring the management responsibilities of drainage systems to users has been carried out. The study resulted in a number of practical contributions towards the amendments in the Law on Land Reclamation in Lithuania and the establishment of a system of indicators that would allow rationalisation of subsidy allocations for the maintenance and improvement of the drainage systems. These subsidies from the state budget make at the moment the largest share among the investment sources. The financial and in kind contribution of drainage users is permanently increasing as are the allocations of the structural funds for public projects. The EU pre-accession programme SAPARD started in 2000 has supported some investments in rural areas. Unfortunately, it did not support the drainage infrastructure properly. A critical review of previous measures allowed suggesting new actions within the framework of the actual support from EU structural funds.

Cities in recent times suffer from deterioration, suburbanization and depopulation, although as the historically evolved townscapes, they bring economic, social and cultural assets. The reurbanization activates and renews the areas, which lost their functional and formal attractiveness and actuality. The public investments, which protect and capitalize the historical heritage of the cities are the main tool to implement this vector of development. This paper, on the example of analysis of selected group of public investments, which took place in a historic townscape of Szczecin, focuses on significance of the cultural and historical values and presents their catalytic effect on further city development.

In modern conditions of urban development, there is a need to improve the technology for determining the investment attractiveness of urban lands by developing a method and models for assessing its impact, which will be based on the construction of a two-level system of indicators, which will determine the integral investment criterion and develop guidelines for improving the investment attractiveness of urban lands. As a result of the research, the value of the integral indicator of urban land investment attractiveness was determined, which allowed to apply it in the system of normative monetary valuation of urban land and to develop methodological recommendations for improving the efficiency of its investment attractiveness assessment. A method for assessing the investment attractiveness of urban land, as the main element of technology, based on the determination of indicators for assessing the integral criterion for the development of guidelines for improving the urban land investment attractiveness is developed. By the value of the integral criterion, the integral indicators of the potential investment attractiveness of urban lands are determined, considering the changes in the normative monetary value of the lands of settlements and the level of investment attractiveness of the regional centers of Ukraine is determined.

Many countries, including Indonesia, face severe water scarcity and groundwater depletion. Monitoring and evaluation of water resources need to be done. In addition, it is also necessary to improve the method of calculating water, which was initially based on a biophysical approach, replaced by a socio-ecological approach. Water yields were estimated using the Integrated Valuation of Ecosystem Services and Trade-offs (InVEST) model. The Ordinary Least Square (OLS) and geographic weighted regression (GWR) methods were used to identify and analyze socio-ecological variables for changes in water yields. The purpose of this study was: (1) to analyze the spatial and temporal changes in water yield from 2000 to 2018 in the Citarum River Basin Unit (Citarum RBU) using the InVEST model, and (2) to identify socio-ecological variables as driving factors for changes in water yields using the OLS and GWR methods. The findings revealed the overall annual water yield decreased from 16.64 billion m3 year-1 in the year 2000 to 12.16 billion m3 year-1 in 2018; it was about 4.48 billion m3 (26.91%). The socio-ecological variables in water yields in the Citarum RBU show that climate and socio-economic characteristics contributed 6% and 44%, respectively. Land use/Land cover (LU/LC) and land configuration contribution fell by 20% and 40%, respectively.The main factors underlying the recent changes in water yields include average rainfall, pure dry agriculture, and bare land at 28.53%, 27.73%, and 15.08% for the biophysical model, while 30.28%, 23.77%, and 10.24% for the socio-ecological model, respectively. However, the social-ecological model demonstrated an increase in the contribution rate of climate and socio-economic factors and vice versa for the land use and landscape contribution rate. This circumstance demonstrates that the socio-ecological model is more comprehensive than the biophysical one for evaluating water scarcity.

Within this article a large scope of issues associated with development conditions and specifics of shaping the new image of Gdańsk waterfront was presented. The special attention was paid to its part situated within its central zone, located within the city centre. This area was playing a key role in development of the city, as within its boundaries many activities associated with shipbuilding and port industry were located. One has to mention that the Granary Island – a place located in the heart of the waterfront area – was an area of special interest for the port and shipbuilding activities, which relates also to the embankments of both Old and New Motława rivers. But the technological changes in the maritime transportation as well as wart-time destruction of the city decided about the major changes in structure of this area and shifting the port and shipbuilding operations to other sites located to the north from the city centre. Therefore, starting from the year 1945, one could observe the on-going discussion regarding the future of this area, although only in 1990-ties it was possible to actually start implementation of these ideas. At the same time – along with appearance of the demand for the types of apartments, offi ce and commercial spaces that are located on the waterfront – the urban space of Gdańsk waterfront has become interesting for both municipal authorities and developers. In result, a large amount of projects have already been implemented or planned, which contributes towards creation of the new, waterfront urban district of Gdańsk. Within its structure one can distinguish a number of particular sites, including ones still awaiting for their development chances. In the text of this article there were presented the most important parts of these plans, as well as future development directions of urban waterfront structures.

This paper presents the innovative activity of enterprises as a process that is risky but necessary for the survival of a company in a competitive market, and as a way to maximize the long-term value for the owners. Risks and benefits were analysed, and the possible sources of added value in innovative projects were identified in the context of the capital market equilibrium and the budgeting of investments. Innovative projects become a source of added value for investors if the financial effects such as changes in the residual cash flow and higher growth rate outweigh the combined impact on the risk generated by two factors: increase of systematic risk and emerging specific risks.

The extraction of mineral deposits is usually charged with additional taxes or royalty fees that go beyond the general income tax. As a rule, countries prefer stable sources of fiscal revenues based on the volume of raw material extraction, and investors prefer models based on profit tax, i.e. taking operating costs and risks lower than the expected profitability of the project into account. As a rule, too high a burden for the mining sector affects investors’ decisions regarding the introduction of new investments. There are a number of examples where excessive fiscal burdens force investors to move to countries with more favorable tax systems. An analysis of various forms of taxation of mining enterprises around the world has been presented and compared with the system implemented in Poland. Usually, the countries that apply the royalty fee in the mining sector at the same time introduce a number of adaptation mechanisms. This is crucial for new investments due to the fact that they may to some extent compensate for the high costs of transition from the investment to the operational phase. In most cases, several incentive mechanisms are used at the same time, e.g. the accelerated settlement of investment expenditures and the unlimited settlement of losses. The copper and silver mining tax introduced in Poland increased the discounted effective tax rate (ETR) from 38.5% to 89% for the entire investment period, which resulted in a 11-year return on investment, as well as a drop in the internal rate of return (IRR).There are currently no mechanisms in Poland which would balance the burden of this tax for a new investor. In order to balance the extraction tax for certain minerals in terms of the IRR and ETR key indicators, the introduction of several adaptation mechanisms has been proposed. For new investments the most essential mechanism is the preferential settlement of capital expenditures incurred in the pre-production phase of an investment. The others include accelerated amortization, the ability to deduct certain expenses for the exploration phase from the tax base, along with an extended tax loss settlement period, or a mechanism for deducting a certain percentage of investment expenses directly from the tax.

The article considers the issues of the value of invested capital, methods of its measurement and its growth mechanisms. The author draws attention to relationship between the value of capital and the paradigm of economics, which ultimately indicates the existence of connections between the effectiveness of investment and the philosophy of economics. The main purpose of the article is to identify abnormalities in the valuation of assets by investors due to their incorrect or incomplete understanding of the value growth mechanism, the effects of which may assume significance on a macroeconomic scale.

This paper presents the main dilemma of development of the Polish energy sector on the 20th anniversary of the first liberalization directive of the European Union, which created the energy market. The situation in the Polish energy sector based on fossil fuels, its transformation into lower emission one is closely connected to the process of restructuring and further development of the mining sector. On the other hand, we are witnessing the development of RES, household installations producing electricity with storage and the electrification of public transport. The investments in new, large scale fossil fuel fired power plants are very expensive and not economically proven when electricity prices are low. Until the new direction of investment in energy sector will be decided, the option of the lasting of the operating existing power units seems to be a good proposal. Is the thesis: “The energy security of Poland should be fully based on indigenous sources, generation and distribution assets, delivering electricity to end users. Ensuring competitive energy prices to the economy and households, the market should be fully open to producers and consumers, including chip electricity arising from the European single market” the right assumption for the Polish energy policy?

The article includes analysis of the constructing of the concept of the child and childhood within neoliberal culture set against the background of mechanisms for exercising power and constructing subjectivity. In particular, in conducting these areas such phenomena as: population policy, investing in childhood, management of childhood are involved. Additionally, the theoretical perspective lying at the basis of the analysis refers to the concept of “governmentality” in light of Michel Foucault and his ideas.