On 5-6 December 2022, CRCICA held its eighth series of the World’s Sole Biennial International Conference on “The Role of State Courts in International Arbitration- SHARM EL SHEIKH VIII” at Steigenberger ALCAZAR Sharm El Sheikh, Egypt. SHARM ELSHEIKH 2022 was the eighth of highly successful international series of conferences being held biennially since 2005 in cooperation with the United Nations Commission on International Trade Law (UNCITRAL), the International Federation of Commercial Arbitration Institutions (IFCAI) and the Arab Union for International Arbitration (AUIA).  This year the conference was also co-organized with the Asian African Legal Consultative Organisation (AALCO) and the International Council for Commercial Arbitration (ICCA). The Conference profile comprised representation from all over the world with 249 participants from 26 countries namely; Australia, Bahrain, Belgium, Brazil, Egypt, France, Germany, India, Jordan, "Latvia Estonia Lithuania", Lebanon, Libya, Morocco, Netherlands, Nigeria, Palestine, Portugal, Qatar, Russian Federation, Saudi Arabia, Sudan, UK, United Arab Emirates, United Republic of Tanzania, and the USA.  Such attendance is the highest one and breaks all records of the previous series. 40 distinguished speakers representing multicultural backgrounds  contributed to the conference from 24 countries namely; Austria, Bahrain, Cameroon, Chile, China, Egypt, France, Germany, Hong Kong, India, Iraq, Lebanon, Nigeria, KSA, Qatar, Rwanda, Scotland, Sweden, Switzerland, Thailand, Tanzania, Tunisia, UAE, and the UK. For more information about the speakers, please click here: https://crcica.org/sharmelsheikh/speakers/ SHARM ELSHEIKH 2022 was sponsored by 32 law firms and organizations. Zulficar & Partners Law Firm have GOLD SPONSORED the Conference. The Conference’s Silver sponsors were Shahid Law Firm and Youssef & Partners.  The Bronze sponsors were ALC-Alieldean Weshahi & Partners, NassarLaw, Jurisera, Amr & Partners, Omani & Partners LLP, Khodeir & Partners, Badran Law Office.   Supporting Organizations were Audit Duprey Fekl – Law firm, Hassouna & Abou Ali Law Firm, and Jus Mundi.  Media partners were Transnational Dispute Management TDM (Netherlands), IFCAI, CIArb Egypt Branch, The Law, CIArb Qatar Branch (Qatar) iResolve (Australia ), Egyptian Legislation Portal (ELP), BAC/BIAC (China), AAA (Rwanda), Africa Arbitration Academy (Nigeria), “AlexandriaU-CRCICA Arbitration Initiative (Egypt), CIETAC (China), APAA, the Bahrain Chamber for Dispute Resolution BCDR (Bahrain), Hebron Chamber Of Commerce And Industry (Palestine), and the CIArb UAE Branch (UAE). The topics of the agenda covered many of the most currently debated issues related to the role of state courts in arbitration including, the role of state courts in enforcing arbitration agreements, state courts and the arbitral tribunal, the use of technology in international arbitration, globalization and post-pandemic developments, and the annulment of arbitral awards,  in addition to important issues related to the regulatory framework of arbitration in Egypt. The opening keynote speech was delivered by Ms. Anna Joubin-Bret, UNCITRAL Secretary and focused on ISDS Reform. The closing keynote speech was delivered by Ms. Annette Magnusson, Co-Founder, Climate Change Counsel (Sweden), and tackled Climate Change and Dispute Resolution. SHARM ELSHEIKH 2022 also hosted and co-organized the AALCO Second Annual Arbitration Forum in cooperation with the AALCO on the second day of the conference. Top representatives of AALCO’s arbitration institutions; namely CRCICA (Egypt), Nairobi Centre for International Arbitration (NCIA, Kenya), and AALCO Hong Kong Regional Arbitration Centre (AALCOHKRCA, China) spoke at the Forum outlining their institutions relationship with the courts of the states where their seat is located as well as their immunities against jurisdiction and enforcement by virtue of their Headquarters Agreements.  The Forum was moderated by Dr. Gaston Kenfack, Former AALCO Secretary General while the inaugural session was attended by the current AALCO Secretary General Dr. Kamalinne Pinitpuvadol. The Conference also witnessed the screening of the premiere of the documentary “Between North and South” produced by CRCICA which shed light on the history and impact of international arbitration on the Afro-Asian region.  Please click here to watch the  Documentary Trailer https://youtu.be/jPna5qtCMWc During the inaugural session, a moment of silence was observed to recognize eminent scholars, members of CRCICA Advisory Committee (AC), Board of Trustees (BOT) and staff who passed away in the last years and who contributed to the success of the Sharm El Sheikh conference series: Prof. Dr. Ahmed Sadek El Kosheri, former Chair of CRCICA’s AC and former member of the BOT, Prof. Dr. Mohamed Badran, former member of the AC, Prof. Dr. Borham Atalla, former member of the AC, Judge. Mohamed Amin El Mahdy, former Chair of the AC and former Vice-Chair of the BOT, Judge. Dr. Borhan Amrallah, former Chair of the AC and former member of the BOT, and Ms. Wissam Elmolla, former CRCICA’s Associate Director, Head of Conferences, Training and External Relations Department and sole Manager of previous Sharm El Sheikh series. During the closing session, CRCICA’s Director presented CRCICA’s Medal of Honour to Judge. Ismail Al Ziady, Former President of the Commercial Seventh Circuit, Cairo Court of Appeal, in acknowledgment of his contributions to the Egyptian judiciary. A medal was also presented to Dr. Dalia Hussein, Deputy Director and Head of the Organizing Committee of the Conference, in recognition of her dedication and diligence throughout the preparation and organization stages of the Sharm El Sheikh VIII.   For more information about SHARM EL SHEIKH VIII, please visit the website of the conference https://crcica.org/sharmelsheikh/ For more information about the conference programme, please click here: https://crcica.org/sharmelsheikh/wp-content/uploads/2022/12/Sharm-ElSheikh-VIII-Agenda-En.pdf

CRCICA is always keen to promote the ADR methods of dispute settlement. In this context, CRCICA invited Mr. Joseph Obeid on 28 November 2022, Member of the International Federation of Psychoanalytic Societies who delivered the first part of an interesting one-of-a-kind lecture on the psychological dimensions of mediation. The attendees were impressed to the extent of soliciting a full workshop to learn more about this exciting topic.

On 14-15 November 2022, the CRCICA hosted and supported the Dispute Resolution Board Foundation (DRBF) MENA Regional Conference and Workshop.   The DRBF Workshop, held on 14 November 2022, was designed for candidates interested in serving on DBs and implementing DBs for the first time.  The Workshop was delivered by experienced DRBF tutors and practitioner who focused on Dispute Boards (DBs), international and multinational practice with binding decisions, and basic tenets of the Dispute Board (DB) process.  The Programme of the DRBF Conference, held on 15 November 2022, included topics relating to the application of the DB Rules, its best practices and dispute avoidance. Experienced DRBF speakers presented the advantages of DB Rules, CRCICA’s DB Rules, FIDIC and other international DB Rules, and their application in the region, the importance of expertise in the project works, and independence and impartiality for successful DBs.  The conference was concluded by a roundtable discussion on the distinctive issues and challenges facing DB application by project and DB experts.  Dr. Dalia Hussein, CRCICA’s Deputy Director, represented CRCICA at the conference and presented CRCICA’s DB Rules.

Dr. Mohamed Hafez, Associate Director for Legal Affairs and Business Development, CRCICA, participated in attending a series of events during the Dubai Arbitration Week which took place from Monday 14 November to Friday 18 November 2022. Dr. Hafez participated actively in several events and notably at Al Tamimi & Co.’s hosted event titled “Regional Updates in the MENA Region” which took place on Tuesday 15 November 2022 at Al Tamami & Co.’s premises in Dubai. Dr. Hafez was given the floor briefly to discuss the latest developments taking place at CRCICA, where he mentioned the launch of the CRCICA Dispute Board Rules in August 2021 and how it has been in demand since its launch last year. He also mentioned that a brand new CRCICA website will be launched very soon and that CRCICA will be issuing its updated CRCICA Arbitration rules, which shall include the latest developments in the field of arbitration to best serve its users in the very near future.

Dr. Dalia Hussein, Deputy Director, represented CRCICA at the 2022 United Nations Climate Change Conference held during  6-20 November 2022.  Egypt hosted the 27th Conference of the Parties of the UNFCCC (COP27) in Sharm El-Sheikh, with a view to building on previous successes and paving the way for future ambition. Top representatives from all countries attended Cop 27 to take action towards achieving the world's collective climate goals as agreed under the Paris Agreement and the Convention. For more information about Cop 27, please click here https://unfccc.int/cop27 Dr. Hussein moderated the session held on 10 November 2022 co-presented by CRCICA, the General Authority for Investment and Free Zones (GAFI) and UNCTAD on “Promoting Sustainable Investment while Upholding Environmental Protection in Egypt’s Regulatory Framework for Investment and Climate Action”. It is worth noting that Sharm El Sheikh is the permanent venue of CRCICA’s Sole biennial Conference on the Role of State Courts in International Arbitration.  A few days after the ending of Cop 27, CRCICA organized its eighth round of Sharm El Sheikh Conference on 5-6 December 2022.  Notably, the closing keynote speech addressed the climate change and dispute resolution presented by Ms. Annette Magnusson, Co-Founder, Climate Change Counsel (Sweden).  For more information about Sharm El Sheikh VIII, please click here https://crcica.org/sharmelsheikh/