● Al-Mashat: The government is keen to provide all forms of support to the Arab Court of Arbitration to play its role in promoting joint Arab action and resolving trade and investment disputes.
● Counselor Abdel-Wahab Abdel-Razeq, Chairman of the Court’s Board of Trustees, thanks President Abdel-Fattah El-Sisi for directing all aspects of support and assistance to the Court to carry out its role.
In implementation of the directives of President Abdel Fattah El-Sisi, President of the Arab Republic of Egypt, to strengthen joint Arab action, and in implementation of the decision of the Presidency of the Council of Ministers issued last August, the Ministry of International Cooperation completed the handover ceremony of the former headquarters of the Ministry located in the downtown area, to become the temporary headquarters of the Arab Court of Arbitration, until the permanent headquarters of the court is prepared in the City of Justice in the New Administrative Capital.
This came during a meeting with the Minister of International Cooperation, H.E. Dr. Rania A. Al-Mashat, and the Chairman of the Board of Trustees of the Arab Court of Arbitration and President of the Egyptian Senate,, Counselor Abdel-Wahab Abdel-Razeq, at the former headquarters of the Ministry of International Cooperation (the temporary headquarters of the Arab Court of Arbitration), in the presence of Counselor Farouk Sultan, former President of the Supreme Constitutional Court and President of the Arab Court of Arbitration, Counselor Hamdi Abu Zeid, Vice President of the State Council and Vice Chairman of the Court’s Board of Trustees, Counselor Mohamed Eid Mahjoub, President of the Court of Cassation, former President of the Supreme Judicial Council and member of the Court, Counselor Issam El Minshawy, Head of the Prosecution Authority, the former administrator and member of the court, Dr. Samia Hussein, Assistant Minister of International Cooperation, Counselor Tarek El-Shaarawy, Advisor to the Minister of International Cooperation, and a group of members of the court.
This step comes after the success of the efforts undertaken by the Egyptian government through the Ministry of International Cooperation - the permanent representative of the Arab Republic of Egypt to the Council of Arab Economic Unity - and in coordination with the Council, to establish the Arab Court of Arbitration, within the framework of the tasks entrusted to the Council to achieve Arab economic integration, in implementation of the provisions of the Arab Economic Unity Agreement between the Arab League countries, and based on the objectives upon which the Council is based, which is to create a permanent and independent Arab arbitration body that takes its place among the global and regional arbitration systems.
Al-Mashat confirmed that the government’s decision to house the Arab Court of Arbitration in the former headquarters of the Ministry of International Cooperation comes in light of the Egyptian state’s keenness to provide all forms of support for the efforts aimed at strengthening joint Arab action and supporting the court in implementing its assigned role to settle commercial, economic and investment disputes, disputes between one country and another, and disputes between parties in the private sector.
H.E. indicated that the Ministry, as the permanent representative of the Arab Republic of Egypt to the Council of Economic Unity, has coordinated and cooperated with each of the Council of Arab Economic Unity, in implementation of the directions and priorities of the Egyptian state.
It is important to note that the Arab Court of Arbitration will have a vital and important role in developing joint Arab action at the economic and commercial levels, and overcoming challenges, expressing her aspiration that the Council will work to develop its mechanisms and objectives and restore its governance completely so that it can achieve its goals.
For his part, the Chairman of the Board of Trustees of the Arab Court of Arbitration, Counselor Abdel-Wahab Abdel-Razeq, thanked His Excellency President Abdel Fattah El-Sisi, President of the Arab Republic of Egypt, and the Egyptian government, for supporting the Arab Court of Arbitration from the beginning of its founding until the approval of its joining to work within the scope of the Council as an independent Arab body, and for ensuring to provide a permanent headquarters for the court in the City of Justice in the New Administrative Capital, in a way that enhances joint Arab action, supports the court in carrying out its work, enhances integration between countries, and ensures the presence of an Arab arbitration body that settles disputes in a way that stimulates the fields of trade, investment, and economy among Arab countries.
In addition to the court’s role in settling disputes through arbitration and developing the fields of arbitration, it will provide many services, the most prominent of which are managing arbitration at the local and international levels to resolve commercial, economic and investment disputes, establishing an academy to prepare and qualify international arbitrators, and raising the level of international commercial arbitration in the region, thus establishing a training center to hold training courses in the field of arbitration and specialized legal and technical fields, drafting contracts of all kinds, as well as settling disputes through mediation and other services, including organizing local and international conferences and seminars in the field of arbitration.
The court’s Board of Trustees is headed by Counselor Abdel-Wahab Abdel-Razeq, the former President of the Supreme Constitutional Court and President of the Egyptian Senate, along with four deputies, including Counselor Hamdi Abu Zaid, Vice-President of the State Council and member of the Supreme Administrative Court in Egypt.
The court is also headed by Counselor Farouk Sultan, former president of the Supreme Constitutional Court. The court also includes, in the membership of the Board of Trustees and the Board of Directors, an elite group of judicial and legal figures, public figures, and high-ranking statesmen in Arab countries.
The court’s founding general assembly issued a decision on September 15, 2020, approving the court’s statute (headquartered in Cairo) and electing the court’s board of trustees, headed by Counselor Abdel Razeq (former President of the Supreme Constitutional Court and President of the Senate), and the election of the Court’s Board of Directors. Then, in June 2021, a decision was issued by the Council of Arab Economic Unity at the ministerial level in its 111th session approving the joining of the Arab Court of Arbitration to work within the scope of the Council as an independent Arab body.
It is worth noting that the Council of Arab Economic Unity was established as a specialized Arab regional organization in 1964 with its permanent headquarters in Cairo, and in accordance with Article Three of the Arab Economic Unity Agreement, it aims to organize economic relations between Arab countries and consolidate them on foundations that suit the natural and historical ties existing between them, and to achieve the best conditions for the prosperity of its economy and the development of its wealth, and in the context of joint Arab action, the importance of its work is highlighted in promoting the path of establishing a complete economic unity among the Arab countries, with the aim of creating economic integration between the Arab countries that enables them to face the challenges and economic blocs regionally and internationally.