SOAS First Arbitration in Africa Conference
The Role of Arbitration Institutions in the Development of Arbitration in Africa
Addis Ababa
The AU Commission
22-23 July 2015
The AU Commission Address:
Roosvelt Street (Old Airport Area)
Addis Ababa, Ethiopia
Arbitration practitioners from across the African continent and beyond were recently all brought together at a conference organised by Dr Emilia Onyema, Senior Lecturer in International Commercial Law, at the premises of the African Union Commission in Ethiopia’s capital Addis Ababa.
The conference, titled The Role of Arbitration Institutions in the Development of Arbitration in Africa, was attended by 61 arbitration practitioners and chief operating officers of various private arbitration institutions and centres. Delegates travelled to Ethiopia’s capital from Cameroon, Ethiopia, Ghana, Ivory Coast, Kenya, Mauritius, Nigeria, Rwanda, South Africa, Sudan and Zambia; as well as a small number of international attendees from the UK, Dubai and the USA.
The conference was designed to foster knowledge sharing on the administration of dispute resolution between private companies and individuals. It aimed to interrogate whether the services of the institutions meet the needs of their users. To this end, nine arbitration institutions discussed their services and ten users gave suggestions on how these services could be better tailored to meet their requirements. Following the presentations, there was intense audience participation in the discussions.
