<h1>Bilateral investment treaty shortens local remedies to three years, adds portfolio investments, keeps protections and regulatory space</h1> A bilateral investment agreement between two states reduces the mandatory exhaustion-of-local-remedies period for investors from five to three years, expands scope to expressly cover portfolio investments, and preserves investor protections against expropriation while ensuring transparency, transfer and compensation rights. The treaty provides an independent arbitration mechanism for investor-state disputes but expressly maintains the host state's regulatory policy space. The change mirrors a recent agreement with another partner and is intended to increase investor certainty and bilateral flows; the government continues parallel negotiations on additional investment treaties with multiple jurisdictions.