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Periodical article | Leiden University catalogue | WorldCat |
Title: | Considering arbitration as an incident of trade and investment in an African setting |
Author: | Asouzu, Amazu A. |
Year: | 1994 |
Periodical: | Annual conference - African Society of International and Comparative Law |
Volume: | 6 |
Pages: | 163-174 |
Language: | English |
Geographic term: | Africa |
Subjects: | international agreements international arbitration international trade |
Abstract: | Disputes are inevitable in commercial relationships, as for example between private investors or international traders and African States, because these parties often have different interests. The author argues that international arbitration is preferable to other options of dispute resolution, notably litigation. Amongst others, arbitration favours trade and investment in Africa by giving business people confidence that potential disputes will be settled in a neutral and predictable forum, while allaying the fears of many parties about litigating in a foreign court. Arbitration awards are enforceable nationally and also internationally: the New York Convention and the International Convention on Settlement of Investment Disputes between States and Nationals of other States of 1965 (ICSID Convention) deal with the enforcement of cross-border awards. African States have reservations about the existing international arbitral order, notably because arbitral institutions are mainly located in European cities and because there are few African arbitrators. However, the Asian-African Legal Consultative Committee (AALCC), an intergovernmental organization, recently established three regional arbitration centres in Cairo, Kuala Lumpur and Lagos. The author recommends that more African arbitrators should be trained and that African States should become parties to international arbitration treaties. Notes, ref. |