<em>Secretary, Department of Legal Affairs, Ministry of Law & Justice says that the new bill introduced to establish a chamber of Arbitration and Arbitration Academy</em>
New Delhi: A workshop on ‘Challenges & Opportunities of Arbitration in the SAARC Region with a focus on India’ was organized by the Federation of Indian Chambers of Commerce and Industry (FICCI) in association with Indian Council of Arbitration (ICA) and SAARC Arbitration Council (SARCO) in New Delhi today. Suresh Chandra, Secretary, Department of Legal Affairs, Ministry of Law & Justice, Uma Sekhar, Joint Secretary, Legal & Treaties Division, Ministry of External Affairs, Zahidullah Jalali, Director General, SAARC Arbitration Council (SARCO), Arun Chawla, Advisor, ICA and Deputy Secretary General, FICCI and few other dignitaries along with industry people attended the workshop.
<strong>India to be hub of International Arbitration</strong>
While speaking at the workshop, Suresh Chandra, Secretary, Department of Legal Affairs, Ministry of Law & Justice said, “The Government has introduced ‘New Delhi International Arbitration Centre Bill 2018’ which will reduce the settlement time and also cost of arbitration.”
“The new Bill will help in building confidence with regard to dispute settlement and India can become the hub of international arbitration,” he further added.
“There was a need of institutionalization of arbitration and we are pre-envisaging a situation where we will have arbitral institutions graded by the Arbitration Council of India. In case of International arbitration, it will be designated by the Supreme Court of India and by various High Courts in case of domestic arbitration,” said Chandra.
He also stressed on having a stronger arbitration process by establishing a Pre-Institutional Mediation mechanism which will ensure out-of-court settlement in 50% of litigation.
<strong>SARCO Should be strengthened for fair settlement</strong>
Speaking on the occasion, Uma Sekhar, Joint Secretary, Legal & Treaties Division, Ministry of External Affairs said that SAARC Countries have a lot in common and SARCO should also be strengthened to establish as a more accurate, fair and efficient institution in settlement of cases by arbitration. “We can develop a database of jury, legal advisors, arbitrators, counsellors which may help in achieving the objective of becoming International hub of arbitration settlement”.
Zahidullah Jalali, Director General, SAARC Arbitration Council (SARCO) said that, “Today the markets and nature of business have turned more complex and are prone to disputes and require a more professional and responsible dispute resolution”.
<strong>Arbitration is important for the SAARC region</strong>
Arun Chawla, Advisor, ICA and Deputy Secretary General, FICCI said that SAARC region accounts for 3% of total world’s area; has 21% population and has combined GDP of US $267 billion. “With rising intra-regional trade, which stood at US $46.5 billion in 2015-16, arbitration is increasingly becoming important for the region
