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OAS Organizes in Saint Lucia High Level Meeting on the Role of the Judiciary in International Commercial Arbitration

The Fourth High Level Meeting on the Role of the Judiciary in International Commercial Arbitration, organized by the Organization of American States (OAS) and the Judicial Education Institute (JEI) of the Eastern Caribbean Supreme Court (ECSC), gathered on October 23 and 24 in Castries, Saint Lucia, more than 65 participants including judges, national and international experts from the judiciary, private sector and academia, to discuss and analyze the role of domestic courts in international commercial arbitration under the New York and Panama Conventions on the recognition and enforcement of arbitral awards, and the Model Law of the United Nations Commission on International Trade Law (UNCITRAL).

The meeting was attended by the Governor General of Saint Lucia, Pearlette Louisy; the Chief Justice of the Eastern Caribbean Supreme Court, Janice Pereira; the Justice of Appeal and Chair of the JEI, Louise Blenman; the Permanent Representative of Saint Lucia to the OAS; Ambassador Sonia Johnny; the First Secretary at the High Commission of Canada in Barbados and Organization of Eastern Caribbean States (OECS), Anne Gaudet; the Attorney General of Saint Lucia, Kim St. Rose; the Speaker of the House of Assembly of Saint Lucia, Peter Foster; and the President of the Senate of that country, Claudius Francis.

During the opening ceremony, the Chief Justice of the Eastern Caribbean Supreme Court, Janice Pereira, expressed the interest of the Eastern Caribbean States in hosting and participating in more activities that allow for exchanges and cooperation between judiciaries. Participating judges had an opportunity to attend panel presentations from experts from Argentina, Brazil, Colombia, Great Britain, Panama, the United States, and Venezuela. For his part, Minister Gilson Dipp, from Brazil’s Superior Court of Justice expressed his delight at having the opportunity to have a substantive interaction with his counterparts from the Caribbean States, a feeling shared by other participants who welcomed this unique chance to expand judicial cooperation across the region.

The High-level Meeting also included a space for dialogue and sharing experiences that aimed to develop a framework for opportunities to strengthen international commercial arbitration in the region and identify ways to address challenges faced by the judiciary in the Caribbean when dealing with the enforcement of foreign arbitral awards. During the closing ceremony, the Director of the OAS Department of International Law, Dante Negro, highlighted the importance of fostering an environment where predictable and reliable arbitration may thrive in order to make the region of Latin America and the Caribbean a more attractive market for investment.

The meeting was a part of a cooperation project, “Commercial Arbitration: Training Judicial Officers in Cross-Border Decision Enforcement” sponsored by the OAS with funding from the Government of Canada. As of today, the OAS has organized similar meetings in the United States, Costa Rica, Chile, Uruguay, and Peru.

For more information, please visit the OAS Website at www.oas.org.

Reference: E-460/14