Abstract: States still offer some resistance to the idea of submitting themselves to arbitration for solving conflicts arising out of state contracts. The ICC International Court of Arbitration has been adopting, in most of its cases, a favorable position towards the recognition of the validity of the arbitration clause foreseen in contracts signed with a State or in administrative agreements. Nevertheless, such tendency is not followed by national state courts, mainly in Latin-American countries. Procedural difficulties may however exist in other countries, the situation being aggravated by the proliferation of ICSID proceedings. ICC arbitrators have thus showed the path for the conciliation of all elements involved in arbitral proceedings with States. The governments, states courts as well as international arbitral panels should now respect and apply the international law in a neutral way so as not to endanger incentives for private foreign investments, which already rely on arbitration as the best settlement method of disputes.