agreement among parties. only two governments, Gabon and Romania, had ever filed an ICSID case against an investor. States appearing most often as a respondent were in descending order: Argentina 49, Venezuela 36, Egypt 17, Ecuador 12, Congo 12, Peru 11 and Ukraine 10 times. Between 2009 and 2012, legal representation cost between US$1 and 7.6 million. The approximate duration of a case was 3.6 years. As of 2019, ICSID's caseload included 2% conciliation cases. The rest were arbitrations. Governance ICSID is governed by its Administrative Council which meets annually and elects the centre's secretary-general and deputy secretary-general, approves rules and regulations, conducts the centre's case proceedings, and approves the centre's budget and annual report. The council consists of one representative from each of the centre's contracting member states and is chaired by the President of the World Bank Group, although the president may not vote. ICSID's normal operations are carried out by its secretariat, which comprises 40 employees and is led by the secretary-general of ICSID. The secretariat provides support to the Administrative Council in conducting the centre's proceedings. It also manages the centre's Panel of Conciliators and Panel of Arbitrators. Each contracting member state may appoint four persons to each panel. In addition to serving as the centre's principal, the secretary-general is responsible for legally representing ICSID and serving as the registrar of its proceedings. , Meg Kinnear serves as the centre's secretary-general. Membership ICSID's 163 member states which have signed the centre's convention include 162 United Nations member states plus Kosovo. Of these member states, 154 are "contracting member states", that is they have ratified the contract. Former members are Bolivia and Venezuela, which withdrew in 2012. Ecuador withdrew from the ICSID Convention in 2009 but rejoined in 2021. All ICSID contracting member states, whether or not they are parties to a given dispute, are required by the ICSID Convention to recognize and enforce ICSID arbitral awards. Non-contracting signatories The following member states have signed the ICSID convention (date in parentheses), but have not ratified it. (1986) (2019) (2000) (1965) (1991) (1995) (1998) (1992) (1985) Non members Brazil, India and South Africa are countries with large economies that have never been ICSID members. Activities ICSID does not conduct arbitration or conciliation proceedings itself, but offers institutional and procedural support to conciliation commissions, tribunals, and other committees which conduct such matters. The centre has two sets of rules