Finance minister Arun Jaitley on Saturday proposed setting up a task force to set up arbitration centres in the Brics nations-Brazil, Russia, India, China and South Africa.
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Jaitley, delivering the valedictory speech at the conference on “International Arbitration in BRICS – Challenges, Opportunities and Road Ahead”, said that developing countries have often expressed apprehension about arbitral awards, or decisions, from the established institutional arbitral centres which have gained credibility over the years.
Global arbitration must also appreciate the social constraints of investment in a country, he said asking why only “a few world centres” should always remain the “hubs” of worldwide arbitration.
The Law minister said according to one estimate, 69.8 per cent of the arbitrators are from the developed or first world countries. Let alone London, let alone Paris, now we see Singapore emerging as an emerging arbitral centre.
“It is, therefore, important that for disputes among the BRICS, we have to develop a mechanism for BRICS countries”.
The suggestion for a Brics-centric arbitration centre and set of rules also came through in the three technical sessions with representatives of the five countries held through the day. He said forum shopping should end.
He also called upon BRICS member countries to build capacity by having a pool of worldwide level arbitrators and arbitration lawyers, among others.
“Those jurisdictions dominated the pie as far as worldwide arbitration was concerned”, he said.
The emerging economies of Brazil, Russia, India, China and South Africa mostly follow the UNCITRAL model law on worldwide commercial arbitration. “An essential part of this will be a dispute resolution mechanism and its enforceability is fair and detached from local commitments”, he stressed. Growth will return to the world and faster growth will return to emerging economies.
“The key is to develop local capabilities in the BRICS countries, so we can deal with these issues”, he said.
Jaitley called for larger economic and trade cooperation among the BRICS member nations for achieving higher growth in a globally challenging environment. “But why do they not get adequate representation in worldwide arbitration?”, he said addressing a conference on global Arbitration in BRICS here.
Speaking at the event, economic affairs secretary Shaktikanta Das said: “Structural bias in favour of developed nations in worldwide arbitration must end while developing nations should build capacity instead of playing victim”.
Pointing to the current inadequacies of the worldwide arbitration system, Prasad said India in this regard has had a “mixed experience” of the Bilateral Investment Treaties (BITs).
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“The suggestion was that it would be more beneficial to have arbitration rules for BRICS countries rather than an institution”, the statement said.
