Promoting and Encouraging Trade and Commerce in the Pacific Region Through Dispute Resolution

Wilmer Cutler Pickering Hale and Dorr LLP and the Centre for Small States, Queen Mary

University of London, held a seminar on 16th March in Brussels on promoting and

encouraging trade and commerce in the Pacific region. Gary Born, Chair of the International

Arbitration practice group at Wilmer Cutler Pickering Hale and Dorr, and Dr. Petra Butler,

Co-Director of the Centre for Small States and Professor at Victoria University of

Wellington, discussed the importance of an effective, efficient and expert dispute resolution

mechanism for Pacific Island countries to foster and enhance cross-border trade and

commerce. The focus was in particular on the role international arbitration can play to

achieve the Pacific Island countries’ goal of increased participation in global trade.

Diplomatic representatives from a number of Pacific nations and delegates from other

institutions with interests in the region attended.

Mr. Born addressed the audience with an overview and history of international arbitration,

details of ongoing reform and capacity-building in the Pacific region and an assessment of

likely future development regarding the adoption of arbitration legislation by Pacific Island

States. Professor Butler’s presentation concentrated on law reform and outlined the

challenges of international arbitration law reform in the Pacific Island countries due to the

Islands’ pluralistic legal systems and the role of custom. She discussed how those challenges

could be overcome. Ana Tuiketei, a Fijian barrister and Visiting Foreign Lawyer at Wilmer

Cutler Pickering Hale and Dorr, chaired the discussion.

The seminar followed and complemented the regional international arbitration conference

jointly organised by the Asian Development Bank (ADB), the United Nations Commission

for International Trade Law (UNCITRAL) Regional Centre for Asia and the Pacific, and the

Fiji Government, titled “The Dawn of International Arbitration in the South Pacific.” The

conference, which took place in February 2018 in Denarau, Fiji, was supported under ADB’s

technical assistance titled “Promotion of International Arbitration Reform for Better

Investment Climate in the South Pacific (more information available here). The conference,

which brought together about 130 attendees comprising over 90 delegates from eleven

Pacific Island countries and international arbitration experts, explored the numerous ways

international arbitration can assist the Pacific Island countries to better take part in global

trade. Mr. Born gave the conference's keynote address following an opening address by the

Solicitor-General of Fiji and the General Counsel of the Asian Development Bank, Christopher Stephens. Dr. Butler facilitated a women in arbitration event which enabled

Pacific Island participants to hear from a variety of prominent female international arbitration

specialists on the subject of how to forge a career in international arbitration.

Mr. Born had previously provided advice and support to the Fiji government, as part of an

international team from the ADB and UNCITRAL, in the drafting of the Fiji International

Arbitration Act 2017. This is part of a broader technical assistance project that aims to

promote accession to the New York Convention and international arbitration law reform in

the South Pacific region. Additional Pacific Island states are in the process of examining the

reform of international arbitration legislation in the region.

Following on from the Brussels seminar and the Fiji conference, the particular role

international arbitration can play in environment and climate change disputes will be

explored at a conference jointly held by Wilmer Cutler Pickering Hale and Dorr LLP and the

Centre for Small States on 6 and 7 September this year in London.