Past Events

On 7 March 2023, the General Authority for Investment and Free Zone (GAFI) in Egypt, and its Investors’ Disputes Settlement Centre (IDSC), and CRCICA held, as part of their common endeavour to promote alternative means of resolving investors’ disputes, a symposium on enhancing the role of mediation and amicable settlement of investment disputes. A most successful event covered by the media, the symposium was attended by many officials, practitioners, and other representatives.

On 7 March 2023, Professor Mathias Audit, Professor at Paris 1 Panthéon-Sorbonne and Partner at Audit Duprey Fekl (Paris) addressed “the Arbitral Debt of States” in a francophone conference, held at CRCICA, in collaboration with Paris 1 Institute for International Business Law (IDAI) in Cairo. Prof. Audit addressed new ways to consider and settle the arbitral debt of States, along with the common limits and challenges they present. Prof. Audit is a renowned Counsel and a regularly appointed arbitrator, notably in investor-state disputes.

During the first days of March 2023, CRCICA co-organised the annual AlexU-CRCICA Vis Pre-Moot and Arbitration Conference for the fourth year in a row in cooperation with Alexandria University and under the umbrella of the AlexandriaU-CRCICA Arbitration Initiative. The fourth edition of the Event took place at the Bibliotheca Alexandrina in Alexandria after two years at CRCICA’s premises. The theme of the fourth edition of the Conference was “Jurisdictional Challenges in International Arbitration”, and it included four panel discussions. The Conference also featured national and international experts, professors, judges and practitioners. It included as well the screening of the Documentary “Between North & South” produced by CRCICA. As CRCICA is one of the constant sponsors of the Willem C. Vis International Commercial Arbitration Moot, the Pre-Moot continues to be the sole sponsor pre-moot for the Vis Moot in the Middle East and mainland Africa, and it took place following the Conference over the course of three days. Furthermore, the Pre-Moot witnessed a strong diversification in the participating universities and arbitrators, with teams and practitioners hailing from Africa, the Middle East, Europe, Asia, and North America. After interesting pleadings from all teams during the general rounds, quarter-final rounds and semi-final rounds, the teams of Leipzig University from Germany and the German University in Cairo from Egypt faced off for the final round. After the team of the German University in Cairo was announced as the winner of the Pre-Moot, Dr. Ismail Selim, Director of CRCICA, presented the CRCICA trophy to the team and wished all the participating teams the best of luck in the Vis Moot and Vis East Moot in Vienna and Hong Kong. The Event was sponsored by Shahid Law Firm (Platinum Sponsor), Eldib Advocates (Gold Sponsor), Matouk Bassiouny Law Firm (Silver Sponsor), Habib Al Mulla and Partners (Bronze Sponsor), ADSERO - Ragy Soliman & Partners (Social Program Sponsor) and Al-Feshawy & El-Shazly Law Firm (Legal Resources Sponsor).

On 28 February 2023, the CIArb Egypt Branch organized jointly with the CRCICA the webinar on “International Arbitration Trends in 2023 - An African Perspective: What is Now, What is Next?” The speakers were Mr. Jean-François Le Gal, Partner, Pinsent Masons LLP and Honorary Secretary of the CIArb London Branch, Mr. Girgis Abd El Shahid, Managing Partner, Shahid Law Firm, and Dr. Ismail Selim, Director of the CRCICA and Vice-Chair of the Egypt Branch. The event was moderated by Ambassador Mostafa Kamal, former Assistant Minister of Foreign Affairs and member of the Egypt Branch Committee. The event approached the international arbitration trends in 2023 in light of the findings of the recent SOAS Arbitration in Africa Survey and the increase in infrastructure and energy-related Disputes in light of the 2022 Energy Arbitration Survey conducted by the School of International Arbitration (SIA), Queen Mary University of London in partnership with Pinsent Masons. Mr. Le Gal focused on the main drivers of Africa-connected disputes, as showed by the SOAS Survey, and connected the surveys’ findings in relation to infrastructure and energy disputes. Mr. Abd El-Shahid attempted to apply some of the responses in the Queen Mary/Pinsent Masons Survey to Egypt taking the Benban Solar Park Project and its associated contracts as a reference. He concluded his speech by providing a practical analysis of the most popular arbitral seats for energy disputes, with a reflection on Cairo being a potential “go-to” arbitral seat of energy disputes. Dr. Ismail Selim presented the arbitral institution’s view regarding infrastructure and energy disputes and their arbitration agreements. Ambassador Mostafa Kamal gave insights on the Egyptian governmental view of this kind of disputes. To watch the video of the webinar, please click here: https://youtu.be/LjazY49TwpA

On 1 February 2023, the Egypt Branch organised, jointly with CRCICA, a seminar on “The Role of the WTO in Regulating Trade Relations and Settlement of Trade Disputes”, held at CRCICA’s premises. The speaker was Ambassador Dr. Mounir Zahran, former Chairman of the Joint Inspection Unit of the UN System Organizations and the moderator was Ambassador Mostafa Kamal, former Assistant Minister of Foreign Affairs and member of the Egypt Branch Committee. Ambassador Dr. Zahran presented an overview of the establishment of the World Trade Organization (WTO) in Geneva in January 1995, the organisation's efforts to liberalise trade in services, its role in regulating trade relations between states and its experiences in the settlement of trade disputes between member states through the dispute settlement body. A recording of the seminar is available here.