SCCA Ends Its International Trip to Washington and New York
Published Date: 08/08/2018
The Saudi Center for Commercial Arbitration recently concluded its third official working trip, this one to Washington and New York in the United States of America. The trip including holding open workshops, lectures, and introductory meetings, in addition to conducting a number of official visits and meetings to introduce the Center and the institutional arbitration industry in the Kingdom and discuss the potential and means to cooperate, exchange expertise, and explore areas of common interest between the Center and entities including international organizations, U.S. agencies, and major law firms and corporations.
The trip represented an extension of the Center’s commitment to its national duty as the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia’s official representative in the arbitration industry domestically and internationally. During the trip, the Center sought to highlight the great quantum leap the Kingdom is witnessing in the development of alternative dispute resolution (ADR) generally and institutional arbitration specifically, as well as the enforcement of national and foreign arbitration awards. Enforcement of such awards is the practical embodiment of one of the most important factors for supporting and attracting national and foreign investment to the Kingdom and of the Center’s effective contributions to achieving the goals of the Kingdom’s National Transformation Program 2020 and Vision 2030.
While in Washington and New York, the Center conducted official visits and meetings with a group of important and relevant international organizations, such as the United Nations Commission on International Trade Law (UNCITRAL) and the International Centre for Settlement of Investment Disputes (ICSID), which is affiliated with the World Bank. The Center also met officially with an array of the most prominent ADR centers and international arbitration centers, foremost among them the Center’s strategic partner the International Dispute Resolution Centre of the American Arbitration Association (ICDR-AAA), the mediation and arbitration center JAMS International, and the CPR International Institute for Conflict Prevention & Resolution.
The Center also conducted official visits with a number of American agencies and bodies such as the Commercial Law Development Program (CLDP) within the U.S. Department of Commerce, the American Bar Association (ABA), and the Financial Industry Regulatory Authority (FINRA). The Center held several in-depth workshops and introductory meetings with a number of major international law firms including Pillsbury, Latham & Watkins, Hogan Lovells, and others, and visited some large transnational corporations for meetings to introduce the Center and examine the possibility of adding clauses for Center-administered arbitration to their contracts, particularly those contracts relating to activities in the Middle East generally and the Gulf region specifically.
At the official invitation of UNCITRAL, the Center participated in activities arranged by the organization at the UN Headquarters in New York, including academic sessions and a celebration of the 60th anniversary of the New York Convention on the Recognition and Enforcement of Foreign Arbitral Awards, which the Kingdom joined in 1993.
In the U.S. capital of Washington, in partnership with and hosted by the National U.S.-Arab Chamber of Commerce, the Center held an extended panel discussion titled “Arbitration and enforcement of domestic and foreign arbitration awards in the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia.” The panel discussion was attended by an elite group of arbitration and mediation pioneers, international practitioners, and executives and legal advisors from American and international corporations and law firms. The panel discussion featured an explanation of the extent of the development that the Kingdom has witnessed in the arbitration industry and the effectiveness of ADR for the investment climate in the Kingdom via effective and successful enforcement of domestic and foreign awards and the strength of the strategic relationship between the Center and relevant legal bodies. The Center also listened to videos and the comments of the attendees, who praised the positive change underway, which focuses on improving the perception of the Kingdom as a promising and more attractive environment for investment.
“The official international trip, the Center’s delegation to the United States of America, and the meetings, activities and effective discussions embody the Center’s actions to represent the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia in an official capacity before relevant international organizations and conferences,” said Mr. Yassin bin Khalid Khayat, the chairman of the Center’s Board of Directors, “in order to present a positive and promising image of the Kingdom and the developments and accomplishments taking place under wise leadership and through the serious efforts of national personnel striving to achieve the Kingdom’s Vision 2030. The Center is reaffirming its commitment to providing the best possible ADR services to create an attractive and promising investment climate, and to highlighting the prestige that the institutional arbitration industry in the Kingdom has attained.”
For his part, Saudi Center for Commercial Arbitration CEO Dr. Hamed Merah stated that the comprehensive program and carefully planned activities that made up the Center’s official trip to the United States of America, its third after the in-depth programs it previously conducted in Dubai and London, met with a hugely positive international response and left excellent impressions that were followed by concrete steps, such as establishing joint projects and a partnership that serves to further develop the institutional arbitration industry in the Kingdom. Dr. Merah added: “These meetings attest to the increasing interest in attending the Saudi Commercial Arbitration Center’s first international conference, which will be held on 16-17 October in Riyadh.