The second event in the series of webinars hosted jointly by the Centre of Excellence on Alternative Dispute Resolution (CADR) and the UNCITRAL National Coordination Committee for India (UNCCI) was held on 16 May 2020 on the emerging area of Investor State Dispute Settlement (ISDS). The panel comprised of Dr Gabrielle Kauffman-Kohler (President, International Council for Commercial Arbitration), Marike Paulsson (Senior Advisor, Albright Stonebridge Group) and Promod Nair (Advocate and Arbitrator, Arista Chambers).

Ajay Thomas (Director, Faculty of Law) delivered the introductory remarks where he emphasised that, whilst the basic idea of investment treaties and international dispute resolution was on solid ground, the recent experience with investor state dispute settlement showed that the system had its flaws which needed urgent resolution. Gourab Banerji (Senior Advocate) and George Pothan moderated this webinar where the focus inter alia was on the need for structural reforms to the ISDS system and the current discussions on the topic at UNCITRAL’s Working Group III. 

UNCITRAL’s support ensured that the 240 event delegates came from far and wide. 25 countries to be precise, including Australia, Vietnam, Singapore, Indonesia, China, Malaysia, Nepal, Sri Lanka, Maldives, Mauritius, Nigeria, Ghana, Kenya, Iran, UAE, Bahrain, France, UK, Greece, Switzerland, Portugal, Poland, Peru and Colombia.

The Indian Arbitration Forum (IAF) was a supporting organisation to the webinar, with Live Law as the media partner. A report of the webinar published on Live Law can be accessed here