Tribune News Network
Doha
The 5th World Conference on International Arbitration, held under the patronage of H.E. Sheikh Mohammed bin Abdulrahman Al Thani, Prime Minister and Minister of Foreign Affairs, concluded on Wednesday, November 20 at the WaldorfAstoria Lusail Hotel with a slew of significant recommendations.
Organized by the Qatar International Centre for Conciliation & Arbitration (QICCA), the two-day event was held under the theme ‘Arbitration in the MENA Region – Present and Future.’
In the closing session, QICCA’s Secretary-General Ibrahim Shahbik announced the conference’s recommendations which included allowing the review of Court of Appeal rulings on arbitration awards by the Court of Cassation and seeking UNCITRAL’s recommendations when drafting arbitration and mediation legislation.
Recommendations also included issuing lists of qualified arbitrators along with clear guidelines and conditions to govern the appointment of arbitrators by competent courts in cases of ad hoc arbitration and developing advisory guidelines to regulate the conduct of arbitrators in ad hoc arbitration to enhance the arbitration process.
They paid tribute to the judicial approach that supports arbitration by facilitating the recognition of arbitration agreement by reference, while emphasizing that this should only apply in clear reference cases, as per the established practice in comparative jurisprudence among model law jurisdictions.
The conference also affirmed the importance of subjecting international arbitration agreement to the law of the arbitration’s seat, unless otherwise agreed by parties, which is in line with the established approach in the jurisprudence of the supreme courts in Arab countries and other comparative jurisdictions.
It also called for developing rules on arbitrators’ disclosure process prior to issuing appointment awards in ad hoc arbitration, as well as activating the role of mediation in resolving disputes before the Investment Court in accordance with the Qatari Mediation Law.
The Conference featured seven panel discussions on several topic relating to the international arbitration, with 35 speakers from prominent figures in international arbitration from GCC, Arab and foreign countries.
Panel reviews the role of applicable law before the arbitral tribunal
The first day’s third panel was moderated by Tarek Labban, QICCA Arbitrator, Lawyer, and Partner at Thani bin Ali Al Thani Law Firm. It touched on the ‘Role of Applicable Law Before the Arbitral Tribunal.’
Speakers in this session included Prof. Dr. Bernardo M. Cremades, QICCA Arbitrator, Professor of Law, Member of the Spanish Academy of Jurisprudence and Legislation, and Former President of the Spanish Court of Arbitration; Prof. Dr. Loukas Mistelis, Professor of Commercial Law and Arbitration and Director of the School of International Arbitration at the Centre for Commercial Law Studies, Queen Mary University of London; Prof. Dr. Joongi Kim, QICCA Arbitrator, Professor of Law at Yonsei Law School in Seoul, South Korea, and Former President of the Korean Council for International Arbitration (KOCIA); Dr. Nader Ibrahim, Professor of Commercial Arbitration at the College of Law, Qatar University; and, via video conference, Prof. Dr. Mohamed Sameh Amr, QICCA Arbitrator, Dean of the Faculty of Law at Cairo University, and International Lawyer and Arbitrator.