After a three-year hiatus due to the pandemic, the much-anticipated third ICC Kuwait Arbitration Day took place at the heart of Kuwait in the Burj Al Shaya Building on 5 October 2023, organised by the ICC in collaboration with Al Tamimi & Company. Following the success of the inaugural ICC Kuwait Arbitration Day conference in…

As part of the 2022 London International Disputes Week, Arbitration Chambers, Clyde & Co, Hausfeld, Jones Day and LexisNexis organized a conference on “London as an international disputes hub for Dubai, UAE and region disputes: arbitration and the courts – is it still safe to arbitrate in Dubai, and other hot topics”. The panel was…

Amidst reeling from the pandemic of 2020, 2021 witnessed a number of arbitration-related transformations, developments and notable decisions issued by the national courts in the Middle East. In this post, we focus in on the Middle East region to reflect on the significant developments that took place in arbitral centres, summarize key judgments issued by…

The grounding of the container carrier “EVER GIVEN” in the Suez Canal in March 2021 has been dubbed by some as “shipping’s 15 minutes of fame”. This post hitches its star to that wagon and considers the contracts, claims and dispute resolution clauses likely to be affected by this casualty.   The Casualty, Salvage and…

Each of the major arbitral institutions requires that parties furnish some form of advance on costs before an arbitration can proceed. The advance on costs is a deposit paid by the parties to cover fees and expenses of the tribunal and the institution’s administrative expenses (“Advance”). Whilst payment of an Advance is often perceived as…

The announcement on 13 August 2020 of a rapprochement between Israel and the United Arab Emirates (‘UAE’) took the world by surprise. Seasoned regional observers noted quiet cooperation and cross-border transactions over the past few years, but few expected these covert relationships to burst into public view so fully and wholeheartedly. The joint declaration, soon…

As some readers of this blog will, no doubt, be aware, free zone arbitration is a comparatively recent phenomenon that has been championed in particular by the UAE in order to create an alternative to arbitrations seated onshore. By way of reminder, in the UAE, free zone arbitrations are seated in one of the judicial…

This is Part 2 of a blog published in two parts. Part 1 dealt with the Abu Dhabi Global Market Court of First Instance (“ADGMCFI”)’s rulings in A3 v. B3 [2019] ADGMCFI 0004 (4 July 2019), enforcing an ADGM arbitration agreement, and in A4 v. B4 [2019] ADGMCFI 0007 (8 October 2019), enforcing a foreign…

The Middle East Vis Pre-Moot Program (the “Program”), scheduled in Bahrain from 10 to 14 March 2020, was prepared and excited to welcome over 200 students, faculty, and lawyers to celebrate the Program’s 10th anniversary. However, on 25 February, amid the unfortunate COVID-19 global pandemic, Bahrain took precautionary measures to prevent the spread of the…

As the backbone of globalization, the shipping industry is at the heart of cross-border transportation networks that support supply chains and facilitate international trade. In the MENA region, the maritime sector is a significant industry. In order to manage the rise in foreign trade, both governments and the maritime industry have increased investment into the…

Dr Ismail Selim, thank you for joining us on the Kluwer Arbitration Blog! We are grateful to have the opportunity to share your unique perspective with our readers.   1. Could you give our readers a brief introduction to yourself and your route to becoming Director at CRCICA? I graduated from Cairo University in 1997…

In light of several recent developments in Morocco, its status as an international arbitration hub in Africa is worth a focus. This blog post will specifically consider the rise and recognition of economic opportunities in Africa, Morocco’s lead as a diplomatic power in Africa, the country’s experience with investment and commercial arbitration, and the emergence…

Introduction On 9 December 2018, the UAE adopted Cabinet Resolution No. 57 of 2018, which entered into force on 16 February 2019 (the “Cabinet Resolution“). The Cabinet Resolution introduces significant amendments to the UAE Civil Procedure Code (Federal Law No. 11 of 1992), which considerably enhance a wide array of procedures before the UAE onshore…

On 27 March 2017, the Secretary-General of the Permanent Court of Arbitration (“PCA“) designated an appointing authority in an OIC arbitration by applying the UNCITRAL Arbitration Rules, despite the absence of any reference to these Rules in the OIC Agreement. This decision, which concerns a pending case, DS. Construction v. Libya , could mark the…

Introduction The United Arab Emirates (the “UAE”) is a signatory to the New York Convention on the Recognition and Enforcement of Foreign Arbitral Awards of 1958 (the “NYC”), which was adopted into UAE law by Federal Decree No. 43 of 2006. However, there have been instances where the lower courts of the UAE have come…

At the dawn of the New Year, it is time to provide an update on the Dubai International Financial Court (DIFC)’s role as a conduit. Since the DIFC’s first entry onto the jurisdictional landscape as a conduit for the recognition and enforcement of awards for onward execution against assets of award debtors in onshore Dubai,…

The year of 2018 brought a wave of important arbitration events, developments, precedents and legislative reforms in the Middle East.  Join the Kluwer Arbitration Blog’s (KAB) regional editorial team (Dalal Al Houti, Zahra Rose Khawaja, and Gloria Alvarez) as we reflect on a few of these developments and thank the authors who enabled us to provide…

Young ITA has organised over fifteen successful events this year all over the world including in Sao Paolo, Buenos Aires, Guatemala City, Miami, Washington DC, New York City, London, and India. The first Dubai Young ITA talk took place on Wednesday 5 December 2018. The event hosted by Vinson & Elkins featured two panel discussions…

Participants at this year’s Dubai Arbitration Week gathered for the ICC conference hosted by Al Tamimi & Co on 14 November 2018. The conference featured a lively roundtable discussion on the subject of “Arbitrator Disclosure – Local Flavour or International Standards?” chaired by Nadia Darwazeh. The panel comprised practitioners from across the MENA region and…

Third-party funding has become a subject of major discussion over the past few years. It is clear that third-party funding is here to stay, and thus the question today is not whether it is going to grow, but rather where the opportunities are likely to be. Third-party funding: Definition and objectives Third-party funding is an…

On 15 May 2016, the UAE Ministry of Justice and the Abu Dhabi Global Market (ADGM) Courts, the courts of the newly established common law free zone carved out of the heart of Abu Dhabi (see my previous reporting here), entered into a Memorandum of Understanding concerning cooperation in legal and judicial matters with immediate…

According to a recent announcement (see the official DIAC website at https://www.dubaichamber.com/en/news/dubai-international-arbitration-centre-opens-an-office-in-difc), the Dubai International Arbitration Centre, widely known by its acronym as the “DIAC”, is set to open a branch in the Dubai International Financial Centre, in shorthand the “DIFC”. This anticipated move is no doubt a promotional exercise to address concerns that the…

On 18 April 2016, following earlier anticipation (see my blog here), the Emirates Maritime Arbitration Centre, in shorthand “EMAC”, was finally established by virtue of a decree issued by His Highness Sheikh Mohammed bin Rashid Al Maktoum in his capacity as the Ruler of Dubai (see Decree No. 14 of 2016 establishing the Emirates Centre…

In a recent ruling of the DIFC Court of Appeal (CA 007/2015 – DNB Bank ASA v. (1) Gulf Eyadah Corporation (2) Gulf Navigation Holdings PJSC, ruling of the DIFC Court of Appeal of 25 February 2016), Chief Justice Michael Hwang, Justice Sir David Steel and H.E. Justice Omar Al Muhairi took the opportunity to…