With the Saudi Center for Commercial Arbitration on hand, the Kingdom signs the First International Convention on Mediation

With the Saudi Center for Commercial Arbitration on hand, the Kingdom signs the First International Convention on Mediation

Published Date: 07/08/2019


Singapore Convention on Mediation signed by 46 countries, including China, India and USA.

The Kingdom of Saudi Arabia has signed the United Nations Convention on International Settlement Agreements Resulting from Mediation (to be known as the “Singapore Convention on Mediation”), putting it in the vanguard of signatories to the first international convention of its kind on resolving cross-border commercial disputes through mediation.

At a signing ceremony held in Singapore today (7 August 2019, corresponding to 6 Dhu Al-Hijjah), Ministry of Commerce and Investment Undersecretary for Policies and Regulations Bader Al-Haddab signed the Convention on behalf of the Kingdom, and SCCA participated as part of a high-level official delegation.

This event follows SCCA’s participation, alongside several government entities, in efforts to facilitate Saudi Arabia joining the Singapore Convention, including the advice that the Kingdom must be in the ranks of the first signatory states and explaining the Convention’s international significance and its implications for empowering the institutional arbitration and mediation industry locally and internationally.

In its session on 20 Dhu Al-Qadah 1440, corresponding to 23 July 2019, the Council of Ministers authorized His Excellency the Minister of Commerce and Investment, or his representative, to sign the U.N. Convention on International Settlement Agreements Resulting from Mediation.

The Singapore Convention on Mediation opened for signature after three years of exhaustive discussions and drafting the Convention in the corridors of the U.N. Commission on International Trade Law. The process involved 85 member states and 35 non-governmental organizations, with the U.N. General Assembly ultimately adopting the Convention’s text on 18 December 2018.

The Convention provides a unified and effective framework for enforcing international settlement agreements that result from mediation and for enabling the parties to invoke such agreements. This framework is similar to that of the Convention on Recognition and Enforcement of Foreign Arbitral Awards, also known as the “New York Convention.”

The Singapore Convention was crafted as an essential tool for facilitating international trade and promoting mediation as an effective alternative means for resolving commercial disputes. The Convention ensures that the settlement reached by the parties is binding and enforceable.

Commenting on the occasion, Mr. Yassin Bin Khaled Khayat, chairman of SCCA’s Board of Directors, said that the gracious endorsement for the Kingdom signing the Singapore Convention on Mediation is a clear indication of ongoing support for the institutional arbitration and mediation industry from the highest levels of decision makers in the Kingdom, in pursuit of raising the Kingdom’s legislative and legal environment to a level consistent with the latest international standards applicable in this field.

Mr. Khayat added that the Kingdom signed the Singapore Convention on Mediation based on the objectives of Vision 2030, which prioritizes strengthening the Kingdom’s investment standing by implementing globally observed legal and commercial standards and creating a favorable environment for long-term investment.

For his part, SCCA CEO Dr. Hamed Bin Hassan Merah said that the world has come to recognize mediation as one of the most important alternative tools for resolving financial disputes at the international level. He noted that the Singapore Convention is among the most illustrious international conventions in the field of international commercial ADR, along the lines of the New York Convention, which the Kingdom also signed in 1994.

Dr. Merah added that SCCA is fully equipped, administratively and technically, to handle commercial mediation cases. This includes SCCA’s release of mediation rules that SCCA developed in partnership with the International Centre for Dispute Resolution at the American Arbitration Association. The rules align with the highest international standards and practices in the field while taking into account the circumstances and conditions of the local market in the Kingdom.

Dr. Merah went on to say that SCCA’s list of mediators includes elite experts capable of handling all manner of commercial mediation cases. It is this expertise which qualified SCCA to sign a cooperation agreement with the Ministry of Justice to refer a portion of mediation cases from the commercial courts to SCCA.