5th ICC Africa Conference on International Arbitration

The event was hosted virtually on June 1 – 4, 2020. The conference brought together leaders at the International Chamber of Commerce (ICC) and key players in the global international arbitration space to discuss topics relevant to arbitration in Africa.

Uche spoke on a panel titled “Emerging Areas in Arbitration: Moving with the Trend.” The panel discussed “arbitration of climate change related disputes; mining and energy disputes; online dispute resolution mechanism[s]; and issues surrounding expanding the scope of arbitration in Africa into these new and emerging areas.” Uche focused on two suggestions for addressing the trend of difficult-to-enforce arbitral awards in such disputes involving governments and foreign investors: [1] that parties could in appropriate cases authorize arbitral tribunals to explore and award non-pecuniary remedies; and [2] that greater use could be made of the ICC Dispute Boards as a way to avoid or minimize cases that end up in arbitration, or to better articulate disputed issues before arbitral tribunals. Uche also led a presentation titled “Future trends in Mining and Energy Disputes.”