Past Events

On 21 May 2016, the Cairo Regional Centre for International Commercial Arbitration (CRCICA), in cooperation with the International Council for Commercial Arbitration (ICCA) and the National Centre for Judicial Studies organized the Cairo New York Convention (NYC) Roadshow at CRCICA Conference Centre in Cairo-Egypt. The event was attended by 56 Egyptian judges from the following courts: The Court of Cassation, the Cairo Court of Appeal, the Southern Cairo First Instance Court, the Giza First Instance Court, the Cairo Economic Court, in addition to members of the public prosecution at the Court of Cassation. The discussions were led by the following seven experts: Prof. Dr. Ahmed S. El Kosheri (Founding Partner, Kosheri, Rashed and Riad, Cairo-Egypt and Advisory Member of ICCA); Prof. Dr. Borham Attallah (Civil Law Professor, Faculty of Law, Alexandria University); Judge Dominique Hascher (French Cour de Cassation and ICCA Governing Board member), Judge Borhan Amrallah (former President of the Cairo Court of Appeal), Judge Nabil Omran (Vice-President of the Court of Cassation), Judge Ismail Al-Ziady (Cairo Court of Appeal) in addition to CRCICA Director and ICCA Governing Board member, Dr. Mohamed Abdel Raouf. The program of the one day event included three lectures covering the following topics: 1) An overview of the NYC, its objectives, means of interpretation and salient comparative judicial application; 2) the importance of the NYC as a means of assuring legal security; and 3) the role of the national judge in the international arbitration process from the perspectives of both the practitioners and the judges. The lectures were followed by panel-led discussions covering: 1) Article I to IV of the NYC relating to its scope of application, the arbitration agreement, the enforcement procedures and the requirements to be satisfied by the parties seeking to recognize/enforce foreign arbitral awards; 2) Article V of the NYC relating to the grounds for refusing the enforcement of foreign arbitral awards; 3) Article VII of the NYC with special emphasis on the relationship between the NYC and the Riyadh Convention of 1983 covering inter alia the enforcement of Arab arbitral awards in Arab states; and 4) the enforcement of foreign arbitral awards set aside at the seat of arbitration. The texts of the NYC, the Egyptian Arbitration Act, the relevant provisions of the Egyptian law on civil procedures as well as the Arabic version of the ICCA’s Guide to the Interpretation of the 1958 New York Convention were made available to the participants in addition to five relevant judgments rendered by the Egyptian Court of Cassation and the Cairo Court of Appeal as well as three doctrinal articles regarding the application of the NYC. The Roadshow was a great success and has led to very interesting discussions especially with respect to the discretion of the national judges in enforcing arbitral awards while one or more of the causes of refusing enforcement exist, the importance of having a harmonized application of the provisions of the NYC in accordance with the standards and principles of interpretation of international law, the public policy defence under the NYC as well as the analysis of the position of the French courts regarding the enforcement of arbitral awards that have been set aside at the seat. Details pertaining to ICCA’s judicial virtual forum and the New York Arbitration Convention website were brought to the attention of all participants who showed their interest in learning more about international arbitration in general and the enforcement of foreign arbitral awards in particular. CRCICA seizes this opportunity to thank Judge Nabil Omran for his tremendous efforts exerted in order to successfully conduct the Cairo NYC Roadshow. CRCICA also wishes to acknowledge the genuine cooperation of Judge Borhan Amrallah and Judge Omar Hafiz as well as the latter’s colleagues at the National Centre for Judicial Studies. (Photo gallery)  

The first of two May Seminars was delivered by Dr. Naglaa Nassar, Principal, Nassar Law Office under the title “Setting Aside of Arbitral Awards under Egyptian Law”. The speech highlighted the salient features of setting aside arbitral awards under the Egyptian Law and analyzed the most common practical issues arising out of the application of the law. Attendees were a mixture of judges, private lawyers who interacted all together in a lively fashion.

CRCICA hosted the first business conference of the International Federation of Consulting Engineers (FIDIC) held under the title “The Challenges of the Egyptian Construction Industry and the Role of FIDIC” on 16 April 2016, at Dr. Esmat Abdel Meguid Auditorium, CRCICA Conference Centre. The conference was held in cooperation with the Egyptian Society of Consultative Engineers (ESCONE), the Egyptian Engineers Syndicate (EES), the Contractual and Legal Aspects in Construction Program (CLAC) and the Society of Construction Law (SCL). In a balanced structure, expert speakers discussed the challenges of the Egyptian construction industry out of local and international perspectives and evaluate how international construction contracts of wide use as FIDIC contracts are, can help reconcile the needs of local employers and foreign companies implementing major projects in Egypt and whether and to which extent joint efforts are needed for better performance. Beside a pool of Egyptian speakers, experts from Switzerland, Sweden, United Kingdom, Romania represented the FIDIC. Also, speakers from Romania and Jordan presented their countries’ experiences in the application of the FIDIC contracts. The agenda tackled the role of FIDIC in addressing the changes and Challenges in the Egyptian Construction Industry and examined the application of FIDIC Procurement Procedures in major projects. The session entitled “Understanding FIDIC: A Middle Eastern Approach” was a civil-law driven session that discussed the application of FIDIC Contracts in Egypt and other Arab Middle Eastern Countries and the most common amendment to FIDICs’ particular conditions in the Middle East. In an interestingly interactive format, the last working session featured an expert panel discussion on FIDIC Contracts – The Right Tool for Construction Industry in Egypt? Discussions approached the application of the FIDIC contracts in Egypt out of the perspectives of the employer, the contractor and the consultant. Stakeholders’ views were balanced up by FIDIC’s own reflections and the whole panel discussion was orchestrated by an expert legal moderation. The audience was kept engaged, and the discussions were lively and very interesting. Attended by 100 specialists from 8 countries, the conference was hailed as a huge success for highlighting many key issues, and stirring up lots of constructive debate on FIDIC contracts and their application in Egypt. While the majority of attendees represented the Egyptian construction industry, other participants came from Australia, Bahrain, Canada, Jordan, KSA, Russia and Sudan. The business conference was followed by a round-table discussion between FIDIC's representatives and a number of Egyptian consultant engineers. Under the title “Consulting Engineering Industry in Egypt and the Role of FIDIC: Developments, Concerns, What’s for the future?”, discussions addressed the practical issues related to the use of FIDIC contracts in Egypt and explored the ways of bettering national understanding of their core concepts through the key role of consultant engineers. (Photo Gallry)

The April Wednesday One Seminar entitled “Petroleum Concession Agreements in Egypt” was delivered by Mr. Mohamed Abdel Latif, Lawyer and Arbitrator. The lecturer analyzed the legal and organizational frameworks of concession agreements in Egypt and examined the relation between parties thereto in all stages of operation. Special attention was given to the settlement of disputes likely to arise out of concession agreements. The scholastic style of the lecture triggered significant questions and led to fruitful discussions. The seminar was attended by representatives of petroleum companies, oil and gas governmental authorities and private lawyers.

On 31 March 2016, the Arbitration Institute of the Stockholm Chamber of Commerce (SCC) and CRCICA organized their second joint investment arbitration conference entitled: “International Investment Arbitration Involving Arab Parties: Issues and Challenges”. The Conference focal theme provokes various interesting topics and the agenda tactfully tackled all recent texts and trends; issues and concerns, perspectives and expectations in international investment arbitration with special reference to arbitrations involving Arab parties. This includes most recent legal investment texts (laws, bilateral and multilateral investment treaties), in the Arab World and around the globe, that affect investment Arbitration or are likely to have role in its coming future. The example of the current Transatlantic Trade Investment Partnership (TTIP), was examined to explore how would it provide a model for future negotiations on the investment policies between EU and the Arab World. The last working session, a momentous practice-based session, questions the current international practices and mechanisms of the investor-state dispute settlement by Arbitration in an attempt to define shortcomings and propose possible remedies for the betterment of the ISDS. Within this context, and for the first time ever, special attention was given to the particular problems and concerns of the Arab Investor as claimants in investment arbitration as well as the role of the Arab Arbitrator in this concern. Many distinguished speakers addressed the conference topic from local, regional and international perspectives. The Egyptian and Arab speakers discussed regional investment laws, treaties and dispute settlement mechanisms, while the SCC speakers focused on international trends in investor-state arbitration. The conference engaged a large audience drawn from both the business and legal communities from Egypt, Libya, Jordan, Syria, Qatar, Sudan, Burkina Faso, Guinea, Mauritania, France, Sweden, Switzerland and USA. It sparked lively debate about investment policy in the Arab world and investment arbitration involving Arab parties – a debate that will no doubt continue at future CRCICA events. The SCC’s news brief on the Conference can be accessed through this link