Publish time: Thu May 19 17:48:33 CST 2016
Between May 8 and 11 2016, the 23rd International Council for Commercial Arbitration (the “ICCA”) Congress entitled “International Arbitration and the Rule of Law: Contribution and Conformity” has been successfully convened in Mauritius. As the top grand event within the international arbitration community ever to be held in Africa, this congress was honored with the presence of the United Nations Secretary General Mr Ban Ki-moon and the former Director General of the International Atomic Energy Agency Dr Mohamed El Baradei, and attracted the participation of political leaders of African states. Over a thousand arbitration experts from all around the world were assembled to have a warm discussion of the subjects on the agenda. The Beijing Arbitration Commission / the Beijing International Arbitration Center (the “BAC”) is the Gold Sponsor of this ICCA congress and the only exhibitor from China. A BAC delegation of five members led by the BAC Deputy Secretary General Dr Chen Fuyong attended the event in Mauritius.
Over a thousand international arbitration experts attended this Congress
BAC was the only exhibitor from China
On May 8, the Host Committee of the 23rd ICCA Congress arranged a grand opening ceremony, where Mr Salim Moollan QC, the Chairman of the Host Committee and the Vice Chairperson of the United Nations Commission on International Trade Law, made a clear highlight of the theme of this ICCA Congress, and the existing ICCA President and the Member of the U.S. Secretary of State’s Advisory Committee on International Law Mr Donald Francis Donovan, the former Director General of the International Atomic Energy Agency and the Nobel Peace Prize winner Dr Mohamed El Baradei, and the Minister of Finance of Mauritius presented their respective views around the significance of this ICCA Congress. It is worth mentioning that Mr Moollan, when introducing the reason of selecting Mauritius to host this ICCA Congress, stressed that the legal professionals of African countries believe in arbitration’s promotion of the rule of law and want the international arbitral community to hear the voice of Africa and to make contribution to the development of international arbitration. The most appropriate way of achieving this is to invite the whole international arbitration community to Maritius. In fact, African arbitration experts and legal service practitioners from African countries have spoken of a good many new developments and new trends during the following three days of this ICCA Congress, that have attracted extensive attention and significantly improved the image of African arbitration industry within the international arbitration community.
Mr Salim Moollan QC, Chairman of the Host Committee, declared the opening of the Congress
Speech of Mr Donald Francis Donovan, the existing ICCA President
Speech of the Minister of Finance of Mauritius
Dr Baradei, the Nobel Peace Prize winner, addressed on international arbitration development
On May 9, the Congress came to its highlight of the day: speeches delivered by the United Nations Secretary General Mr Ban Ki-moon and the Rt Hon. Prime Minister Sir Anerood Jugnauth, where they respectively conveyed their passion and confidence in future development of international arbitration. Meanwhile, Vice President of the International Court of Justice Judge Abdulqawi Ahmed Yusuf from Somalia addressed on the relationship between international arbitration and modern rule of law. The ICSID Secretary General Ms Meg Kinnear, the Chief of the NAFTA Arbitration Division for the US State Department Ms Andrea Menaker, senior Kenyan lawyer Mr John M. Ohaga, Cameronian Magistrate Dr Gaston Kenfack Douajni, Judge of the Supreme Court of Mauritius Mrs Shaheda Peeroo, Partner of Shearman & Sterling Dr Yas Banifatemi moderated the penal discussions of the day. Judge Liu Jingdong, the Deputy Chief Judge of the Fourth Civil Tribunal of Supreme Court of China, participated in the panel discussion on “The Interface between Domestic Courts and Arbitral Tribunals”. Based on a number of real cases, he illustrated the openness and inclusiveness of Chinese courts to the international arbitration practice under the New York Convention in recent years, and introduced the well interface between the Chinese arbitration community and arbitrators from around the world with the example of the Tsinghua University School of Law International Arbitration Program hosted by Teresa Cheng SC.
Speech of Mr Ban Ki-moon, Secretary General of the United Nations
Speech of the Rt Hon. Prime Minister Sir Anerood Jugnauth
Speech of Judge Liu Jingdong, Deputy Chief Judge of the Fourth Civil Tribunal of Supreme Court of China
On May 10, the Congress entered into the second day. Chief Justice James Allsop of the Federal Court of Australia presented a keynote speech on the forms of rule of law in international arbitration practice, and then the former Chairman of the Australian Centre for International Commercial Arbitration (the “ACICA”) Prof Doug Jones, senior Russian lawyer Mr Vladimir Khvalei, the Past Chair of the American Bar Association’s Section of International Law Mr Barton Legum, Chairman of the Host Committee Mr Moollan, Malcolm Holmes QC from Australia, and the Director of the Cairo Regional Centre for International Commercial Arbitration (the “CRCICA”) Dr Mohamed Abdel Raouf moderated the penal discussions on sub-topics of the day. During the discussion, Professor Brigitte Stern at the University of Paris I - Panthéon-Sorbonne commented on cross-examination of witnesses that almost has been misused in international arbitration practice from the perspective of cost-effectiveness in the panel discussion on “How to Prepare a Persuasive Case”. She thought that such phenomenon originated from the Anglo-American litigation and trial practice should be under more proper control. She also mentioned that Chinese practice of arbitration and litigation in a sense was of value of reference to international arbitration practice, whereas many pointless cross-examination of witnesses in nowadays international arbitration would only result in a sharp increase of arbitration cost. Apart from that, in the panel discussion on “Do Post-Award Remedies Appropriately Ensure Conformity of the Arbitral Process With the Rule of Law?”, an expert from Korea also talked of the difference and interpretation of the wording “Ying Dang” in the Circular of Supreme People's Court on Implementing Convention on the Recognition and Enforcement of Foreign Arbitral Awards Entered by China and the wording “may” in Article V (1) of the New York Convention, based on which she further pointed out that the courts should maintain judicial humility in their supervision of arbitral awards as far as possible, and meanwhile the amendment to the New York Convention might be placed on the agenda with the development of international arbitration practice.
Mr Moollan visited BAC booth
Former Chief Justice of Mauritius Mr Yeung SIK YUEN visited BAC booth
Former Chairman of ACICA Prof Doug Jones and Canadian arbitration expert Prof Janet Walker visited BAC booth
Chairman of the International Commercial Arbitration Court of the Russian Federation Chamber of Commerce and Industry Mr Alexey A. Kostin visited BAC booth
Renowned Singaporean arbitrator and Chief Justice of the Dubai International Financial Centre Courts Prof Michael Hwang (1st right) and former Registrar of LCIA-MIAC Arbitration Centre Mr Duncan Bagshaw (1st left) visited BAC booth
May 11 was the last day of the Congress. Experienced arbitration experts from Nigeria, Kenya, Tanzania, South Africa, Egypt, Mauritius, Cameron, Ghana, Ethiopia and so forth introduced the status quos of arbitration in their own countries, and highlighted the attentions to and supporting measures for international arbitration development. This not only effectively minimized misunderstandings of arbitration practitioners from around the world as to the arbitration and legal system in Africa, but also earned the respect to and confidence in African arbitration development from the whole world.
Head of Shearman Sterling’s International Arbitration practice Mr Emmanuel Gaillard visited BAC booth
Well-known American arbitration expert and Co-Head of International Arbitration Groups of Freshfields Bruckhaus Deringer Ms Lucy Reed visited BAC booth
Famous Asian arbitration expert Mr Michael J Moser visited BAC booth
Notable Japanese Civil Law Prof. Yasuhei Taniguchi visited BAC booth
During this ICCA Congress, the BAC as the only sponsor and exhibitor from China has well arranged its booth with carefully prepared publicity materials, especially the Commercial Dispute Resolution in China: An Annual Review and Preview (2015) (the “Annual Report”). Although there was few speech by Chinese arbitration expert throughout this ICCA Congress, the BAC as a representative of Chinese arbitration has endeavored to highlight the overall development of dispute resolution industry in China to those key experts within the international arbitration community. In particular, based on the extensive and in-depth professional content of the Annual Report, the BAC provided arbitration practitioners from all over the world with a great opportunity to understand the specific practice of commercial arbitration, commercial mediation, construction, real estate, energy, investment, international trade, finance, intellectual property, television and film, and general aviation in the industry of dispute resolution in China. The BAC delegation fully understood that the ICCA Congress was the top grand event within the international arbitration community, and therefore attended those discussions on almost all the sub-topics of the Congress as well as social events. During its communication with arbitration practitioners from other jurisdictions, the BAC delegation also helped distribute publicity materials of other Chinese dispute resolution entities such as the China Law Society.
BAC delegation highlighted Chinese dispute resolution with the Annual Report
BAC delegation proactively promoted Chinese commercial dispute resolution services
BAC delegation introduced the development of Chinese commercial dispute resolution
Warm exchange at BAC booth
During this ICCA Congress, the China Law Society delegation led by Mr Wang Qijiang, Deputy Secretary General of the Committee of Political Science and Law under the CPC Central Committee and Vice Chairman of the China Law Society, the Chinese courts delegation led by Judge Liu Jingdong, Deputy Chief Judge of the Fourth Civil Tribunal of Supreme Court of China, Mr Chen Zhihong, Counsellor of Chinese Embassy in Mauritius, representatives of the Shanghai International Arbitration Center, the Shenzhen Court of International Arbitration, the Shanghai Arbitration Commission, the Jinan Arbitration Commission and other Chinese arbitration institutions as well as several Chinese arbitration experts attending the Congress all paid visits to the BAC booth, and spoke highly of the BAC for its great efforts beyond its own business to promote the whole Chinese arbitration.
Vice Chairman of China Law Society Mr Wang Qijiang visited BAC booth
Counsellor of Chinese Embassy in Mauritius Mr Chen Zhihong visited BAC booth
During the Congress, the Chinese Embassy in Mauritius hosted a get-together party for all the delegations from China, where they shared what they learned and understood from the Congress. All the delegations and attendants expressed their thanks to the Embassy’s strong support and careful service for this event. Ambassador Li Li specifically wished the Chinese arbitration industry a louder and stronger voice in the international arbitration community.
BAC booth became the “headquarter” of Chinese attendants
When looking back on the three days tight agenda of this ICCA Congress, it is clear that the topics for discussion not only focused on the practice of commercial arbitration, but also covered rethinking and prospect of improvement of those fundamental rules in international arbitration, especially on investment arbitration and important international arbitration cases that have been widely discussed in recent years. On one hand, arbitration experts from all around the world raised many targeted opinions and proposals from different perspectives of cultural habit, political backgrounds and legal ideas. On the other hand, more than one thousand international arbitration experts at the Congress have strong voice and determination in their own countries and regions, and thus it is foreseable that within the next few years, international arbitration’s development and rules may integrade with and adopt the many achievements of this ICCA Congress, which will lead to a new trend of development. China, as a permenant memberstate of UN Sercurity Council and a top economic body, with more participation in high level international arbitration events as such, will not only better promote the overall development of its arbitration industry, but also build its image of rule of law on the international stage. An outstanding brand of international arbitration is not merely the pursuit and ambition of an arbitration institution in its growth of globalization, more importantly, it is a direct reflection of the overall national strength. Participation in the discussion of rules of international arbitration industry and leading the trend of international arbitration development is an important way for every state to win its discourse power on the international stage. The BAC expects to promote the internationalization of Chinese arbitration industry jointly with people of insight, to work closely with other colleagues with an open mind, to improve the quality of its serivce by the highest standard of international arbitration, and to provide a booster for international arbitration’s new development.
More voice from China on the stage of international arbitration is expected