Beijing Arbitration Commission

　　On Tuesday, January 15th the BAC welcomed a visit by Mr. Richard Naimark, Senior Vice President of the International Centre for Dispute Resolution (ICDR), the international branch of American Arbitration Association (AAA), and Mr. Jun Bautista, Director of the ICDR’s new Singapore office. They attended BAC’s seminar on topic of “Development of Arbitration and Mediation across the World” presided over by Mr.Qiao Gangliang, the arbitrator of BAC and the VP of GE Healthcare. Mr. Richard Naimark and Mr. Jun Bautista were greeted by Secretary General Madame Wang Hongsong and visited with several BAC arbitrators, including Ms. Zhang Yuejiao, the newly appointed judge to WTO, Mr. Wei Yaorong, former legislator in China National People’s Congress and Mr. Tao Jingzhou, partner of Jones Day LLP’s Beijing office and Committee Member of the ICC’s International Court of Arbitration，Professor Lu Song, Director of Law School of China Foreign Affairs University as well as Mr. Ingloong Yang, the partner of Heller Ehrman LLP and other senior lawyers who have great experience on the practice of international arbitration cases. In the seminar, they entered into some new development and trend of the international arbitration and mediation.

　　Mr. Naimark and Mr. Bautista spoke on the topic of development of commercial arbitration and mediation across the world. Following the presentation, the participants engaged in an open discussion of the new developments. The participants touched on many of the similarities and differences between commonly accepted dispute resolution practices across the world. Mr. Naimark drew attention to the rapid change in ADR during the last five years, and placed particular emphasis on how new developments in Asia may shape the field as a whole.One topic of considerable interest was that of mediation. As mediation grows in popularity both Western and Asian, models are adapting to become more international. Many different views were shared on the relationship between arbitration and mediation and the need for appropriate procedures. Attention was also drawn to the BAC’s new Mediation Rules which will be effective on April 1 2008 and its relative provisions as well as how such improvements could provide viable solutions and development for ADR in China.