In line with the government's plan to overhaul its judicial system including the establishment of separate courts to arbitrate labor and commercial cases, a series of training program for commercial arbitrators has been tabled by the Asharqia Chamber of Commerce in Eastern Province. The first phase of training sessions starts Oct. 12-15, according to Adnan A. Al-Nueim, secretary general of the Asharqia Chamber. “With the expected establishment of more commercial companies and joint ventures as a result of economic surge, the need to train our lawyers and legal representative to arbitrate and mediate commercial disputes is now timely,” Al-Nueim said. He said the arbitration training, which will be comprehensive, will be conducted by the chamber in cooperation with the Gulf States Center for Commercial Arbitration, which is based in Bahrain. “The primary objective of the training is to develop the legal and judicial skills among lawyers relating to the arbitration process. It will also highlight the arbitration basics as a special judicial system and procedures of arbitration and its mechanism,” Al-Nueim said. The training will be conducted by regional and international experts in commercial arbitration. The first phase of the training program will cover several areas, including arbitration and its types and how it is different from the other judicial systems, like conciliation and settlement. The training will also cover various types of arbitrations such as free arbitration, international arbitration, arbitration with conciliation as well as the issues relating to the agreement arbitration, and the validity conditions of the arbitration agreement, such as the competence of the parties to the arbitration agreement. Other legal implications relating to arbitration, such as determining the place of the arbitration, whether in the Kingdom or overseas, will be discussed during the training. The Kingdom's judicial reforms, including the allocation of $2billion for training judges and building new courts, are yet to be started. Until now, Saudi judges have had wide discretion to issue rulings according to their own interpretation of Islamic Shariah law.
