SALALAH, Aug 1 - With a view to offering quick and expert-driven dispute redressal mechanism to businesses, the Sultanate is working to have its own arbitration centre. The work is progressing well and is likely to be functional soon.
An indication on this came during the 23rd annual conference of the GCC Commercial Arbitration Centre in Salalah on Wednesday. The three-day conference with a theme of ‘GCC real estate development and construction disputes’ began on Tuesday.
In his comments to the Observer, Redha Juma al Saleh, Member of the Board of Directors at Oman Chamber of Commerce and Industry (OCCI), stated that arbitration is fast emerging as an important dispute redressal tool among the businesses.
“Keeping in mind the growing commercial family in the Sultanate, the OCCI started working on the modalities of an arbitration body of Oman to settle business disputes in a fast and fair manner.”
“Oman is a part of the GCC Commercial Arbitration Centre (GCCCAC). With the growth of commerce and industry sector, the Sultanate felt the need of having its own edition of commercial disputes redressal centre. We are at a crucial stage and an arbitration centre of Oman would soon be a reality,” he said. Al Saleh said, now the companies seeking arbitration in Oman were going to Bahrain and other GCC countries or even to UK or France depending upon their profile and nature of dispute.
“After having our own arbitration centre, we will encourage local companies to prefer the Sultanate’s arbitration centre over other countries. It, however, entirely be the choice of the companies to choose local arbitrator or arbitrator from outside the country.”
He appreciated the efforts of the GCC Commercial Arbitration Centre, which discusses over a new theme every year.
“The discussions are very fruitful as experts handle those issues comes out with practical solutions. This year’s theme — ‘GCC real estate development and construction disputes’ — is one of the most relevant issues for the region.”
The GCC Commercial Arbitration Centre, according to him, has been successfully resolving commercial disputes in which the parties belong to two different GCC countries. Its association with the FIDIC (International Federation for Consulting Engineers) would add value and broaden its existing value of total neutrality, which is the guiding force behind disputes redressal.
The three-day conference covers a number of themes including the disputes for the real estate and construction at the GCC, the problems related to it, the terms for settling the multi-level disputes and how far they are pending before arbitration in light of the international arbitration panels’ judgments and trends.
The conference aims at standardising the systems and policies related to commercial arbitration. It also aims at exposing participants to modern tools for contracts and help them acquire the necessary skills.
It also aims at helping participants to analyse issues related to GCC arbitration system and get an idea about the specialised issues.
A number of specialists, legal advisers and legal experts from the GCC public and private organisations are taking part in the conference.
Kaushalendra Singh
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