Saudi Arabia to develop commercial arbitration

Custodian of the Two Holy Mosques King Abdullah has allocated around $ 2 billion (SR 7.5 billion) for the development of the Saudi judicial system with special reference to the field of international commercial arbitration, thereby representing one of the leading developments in the International Chamber of Commerce (ICC).
Khalid Al-Nowaiser, chairman of the Saudi Commercial Arbitration Committee, made this announcement yesterday at a meeting here of members of his committee with visiting officials from the International Court of Arbitration in Paris.
Jose Ricardo Feris, deputy secretary-general of the International Court of Arbitration at the International Chamber of Commerce (ICA-ICC) in Paris, led the delegation.
Sami Houerbi, regional director of the Middle East and Africa at the ICC, and Osama Al Kurdi, vice chairman of the Saudi ICC, were present at the meeting.
The Council of Saudi Chambers hosted the consultation meeting for ICC’s World Trade Agenda and G20’s advisory group under the aegis of Tawfiq Al-Rabiah, minister of commerce and industry, on Tuesday.
Officials discussed the involvement of global trade in forming world economic policies through active organizations like the G20 and the World Trade Organization (WTO), among other topics.
“The Kingdom is a significant member in many global economic systems and is ranked 12th in the ‘Ease of Doing Business’ index,” Al-Nowaiser said.
He continued by asserting that this is a meeting that strengthens the ties of cooperation between the Arbitration Committee at the ICC in Saudi Arabia and the International Court of Arbitration, with the goal of promoting commercial arbitration in the Saudi business community.
“These economic developments have been accompanied by improvements in the legislative, regulatory and legal environments of business and commercial activities in the Kingdom, stimulating and attracting both domestic and foreign investments,” Al-Nowaiser said.
He cited the most prominent of these developments, which include King Abdullah’s project for the development of the judicial system, the new foreign investment law, and the new arbitration law issued last year.
The project incorporates updating and streamlining many legal procedures, rehabilitating and training judicial staff and instituting modern technologies, which will ultimately boost the Saudi judicial system and increase the confidence of business investors.
“The Saudi judicial system, with all its improvements, is compatible with the latest global systems and is flexible in a way that enables it to keep abreast of legal developments at all levels,” he concluded.