YOUNG ICCA CO-HOSTS FIRST NEW YORK CONVENTION ROADSHOW IN MAURITIUS
More than a year of preparation by Young ICCA – in close cooperation with the Permanent Court of Arbitration – culminated in early May in the launch of a unique series of training sessions for judges on the New York Convention. Welcoming 35 visiting judges from Southern Africa and ICCA speakers to Mauritius for the two-day workshop on the Convention, the Mauritian Chief Justice, the Honourable Sik Yuen, noted that “the national judge cannot stay stuck in his national grooves. His judicial mind needs to become part of the transition [to effective resolution of national disputes]”. Click here to read the complete Welcome Speech.
Chief Justices and Judges from Botswana, Lesotho, Malawi, Mozambique, Namibia, Rwanda, Seychelles, South Africa, Swaziland, Tanzania and Zambia joined about twenty Mauritian Supreme Court judges for the 3-4 May workshop led by ICCA member and expert on the New York Convention Albert Jan van den Berg, together with colleague and Young ICCA co-chair, Marike Paulsson. Hosted by the Mauritian Chief Justice and organized by the PCA’s outgoing representative in Mauritius, Judith Levine, together with Young ICCA co-chairs, Lise Bosman (PCA Legal Counsel) and Marike Paulsson, the workshop was held at the Trou au Biches Hotel on the Northern Mauritian coast.
Sessions at the Trou au Biches on the New York Convention kicked off with an overview of the cornerstones of international arbitration by Professor van den Berg before moving to an analysis by Ms. Paulsson of the tools for interpreting the Convention, followed by an article-by-article analysis punctuated by “war stories” and designed to promote best practices in interpreting and applying the Convention. The workshop closed with a final discussion and Q&A session, for which the panelists were joined by ICCA President, Jan Paulsson, who characterized the enforcement power of the Convention as “a way of giving power to our citizens to make meaningful promises” and thus promoting economic development in the Southern African region through international trade.
The Roadshow itself was prefaced by a large and lively joint Young ICCA-PCA Practitioners’ Training Day in the Mauritian capital Port Louis, attended by over 75 local lawyers and visitors, at which presentations were made by Jan Paulsson, Albert Jan van den Berg, Judith Levine, Lise Bosman, Fedelma Smith (incoming PCA representative in Mauritius), Marike Paulsson and local arbitration practitioners Jamsheed Peeroo and Anne-Sophie Jullienne. Local TV stations covered the story.
Extensive use was made of ICCA’s 2011 Guide to the Interpretation of the 1958 New York Convention in English, Portuguese and French – with the 2012 Portuguese translation having been the work of Young ICCA members.