With Turkey standing at the gateway to the Middle East, a panel at GAR Live Istanbul that took place on 4 June 2013 considered how far international arbitration culture has taken hold in that region.
The CRCICA was considered by one of the panelists, Mr. Reza Mohatashami, partner at Freshfields Bruckhaus Deringer in Dubai, as one of the “genuine regional centres”.
Speaking to GAR following the event, Mr. Mark Appel, senior vice president of the International Centre for Dispute Resolution (ICDR), said: “The most successful centres in the Middle East have had to learn to walk before they could run. They had to establish a caseload, trust and experience, and to emulate best practice. Mistakes early on will haunt you.” Appel referred to the success story of the CRCICA and suggested that Turkey could learn from the Cairo Centre in particular: “Think small and get your start handling domestic cases; be international in your membership and outlook; have the resources and the leadership – and be prepared for change to be slow.”