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Rahul Preeth
Doha
Qatar International Centre for Conciliation and Arbitration (QICCA) on Wednesday kicked off a seminar series aimed at positively impacting the arbitration landscape in Qatar.
The monthly series will introduce two topics every session in an attempt to increase awareness on the country's dispute resolution mechanism created to protect the interests of foreign investors.
Wednesday's inaugural session dealt with two key aspects of international arbitration — the skills and qualities of an arbitrator and the code of ethics he or she should follow in settling a dispute.
This code of ethics is inspired from Qatari law and affords protection to international concerns doing business in Qatar, said QICCA Principal Legal Counsel Minas Khatchadourian.
Seminars like this will go a long way in increasing awareness about the scope and extent of arbitration among its users (companies) and practitioners (lawyers, jurists and legal service providers), he added.
Abdulla al Mehshadi, an arbitrator and one of the speakers at the seminar, said,"We want more companies to come to Qatar. We want them to be comfortable."
He said the idea behind the seminar series was to create a space for the stakeholders to come together, discuss and exchange ideas on arbitration and the broader legal framework to facilitate cross-border commerce.
Giving an overview of the desired ethical attributes of an arbitrator at the seminar, Khaled al Nasr said that an arbitrator must make decisions in a fair, independent, balanced and thoughtful manner.
"An arbitrator must uphold the fairness, dignity and integrity of the arbitration process and must avoid entering into any commercial, professional or personal relationship with the parties involved in the dispute," he said.
Moreover, he or she must not obtain any financial or personal favour from any of the parties for a reasonable period of time after the decision has been made in the case, Nasr said.
Attended by Qatar Chamber Chairman Sheikh Khalifa bin Jassim al Thani, the session saw the participation of QICCA board member Sheikh Thani bin Ali al Thani, Assistant Secretary-General Ibrahim Shahbeek and several jurists, arbitrators and cadets of Ahmed Bin Mohammed Military College.
QICCA was keen to organise seminars to discuss arbitration-related issues, Shahbik said, noting that the centre's main role was to prepare and qualify arbitrators.
He noted that the arbitration process is based on a number of professional criteria and rules which should be taken into account.
