The Fourth High Level Meeting on the Role of the Judiciary in International Commercial Arbitration, organized by the OAS Department of International Law and the Judicial Education Institute (JEI) of the Eastern Caribbean Supreme Court (ECSC), took place on October 23 and 24 in Castries, St. Lucia, bringing together more than 65 participants including high – level judges, national and international experts from the judiciary, private sector and academia, in order 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 opened by Her
Ladyship Dame Pearlette Louisy, Governor General
of St. Lucia; Her Ladyship the Honorable Janice
Pereira, DBE and Chief Justice of the Eastern
Caribbean Supreme Court; Her Ladyship Honorable
Justice of Appeal Louise Blenman and Chair of
the JEI; Ambassador Sonia Johnny, Permanent
Representative of St. Lucia to the OAS; Ms. Anne
Gaudet, First Secretary at the High Commission
of Canada in Barbados and Organization of
Eastern Caribbean States (OECS) countries; The
Honorable Mrs. Kim St. Rose, Attorney General of
St. Lucia; the Honorable Peter Foster, Speaker
of the House of Assembly of St. Lucia; and the
Honorable Mr. Claudius Francis, President of the
Senate of St. Lucia.
During the opening ceremony,
Her Ladyship the Hon. 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 from OAS and
OECS Member States had a very rare opportunity
to attend panel presentations from experts from
the participating countries as well as
Argentina, Brazil, Colombia, Great Britain,
Panama, the United States of America, and
Venezuela. Minister Gilson Dipp, from Brazil’s
Superior Court of Justice expressed his delight
at having the first opportunity (after 20 years
on the bench) to have a substantive interaction
with his counterparts from the Caribbean States,
a feeling shared by all participants who
welcomed this unique chance to experience true
face-to-face judicial cooperation across
regional, cultural and language boundaries.
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.
In his closing remarks, Dr.
Dante Negro, Director of the OAS Department of
International Law highlighted the importance of
fostering an environment where predictable and
reliable arbitration may thrive in order to make
the Latin America and the Caribbean region a
more attractive market for investment.
This meeting was a part of a
cooperation project, sponsored by the OAS with
funding from the Canadian government. To date,
the Department of International Law of the OAS
Secretariat for Legal Affairs has organized
similar high-level meetings in the United
States, Costa Rica, Chile, Uruguay, and Peru.
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Video - HTS News Channel 4
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