DAMMAM, 29 August 2007 — The Saudi Engineering Society is organizing its third international conference on engineering arbitration in Alkhobar on Oct. 20.
The conference, aimed at evolving a unified Arab arbitration system, will be inaugurated by Crown Prince Sultan, deputy premier and minister of defense and aviation, Abdul Rahman Al-Rabia, chairman of the society’s board of directors and chairman of the organizing committee for the conference, told Arab News yesterday. Delegates and experts of engineering arbitration in the region and other foreign countries will participate in the conference, Rabia said.
The conference also aims at increasing close communication between the arbitrators in the Gulf Cooperation Council countries and Arab countries. It will also enable them to compare their experiences in arbitrations and methods of resolving disputes. It also aims at studying and reviewing the rules and regulations of international arbitration so that a unified Arab regulation of arbitration could be evolved, Rabia said. The conference would also enable arbitrators and related legal institutions to find ways to achieve the fast implementation of the decisions of the arbitration committees. They will also discuss provision for the arbitrations involving construction, operation and transfer of ownership of projects in their various forms in a manner that is suitable for the GCC countries.
He said the major topics to be discussed in the conference include strategies to unify arbitration agencies and systems, methods to develop the mechanisms for an effective implementation of decisions made by arbitrators, latest developments in dispute settlement and common obstacles in implementing engineering arbitration. There would also be three workshops accompanying the conference to discuss the methods of formulating arbitration agreements and organizing arbitration sittings and the legal procedures to be adopted in arbitration in addition to a discussion on the future of arbitration in the Kingdom.
The Ministry of Justice, the Court of Grievances, leading Saudi arbitrators, the Council of Saudi Chambers of Commerce and the Arbitration Center for GCC countries will also participate.