MEA hosts training programme on Investment Treaty Arbitration

The Ministry of External Affairs along with the Permanent Court of Arbitration held a three-day capacity building workshop on Investment Treaty Arbitration that saw experts from across the world who are leading lawyers in the field talking about various aspects pertaining to such arbitrations.

The training programme, held from June 13-15, was inaugurated by Supreme Court Judge DY Chandrachud in the presence of noted jurist and senior advocate Fali S Nariman who along with Minister of State for External Affairs Rajkumar Ranjan Singh addressed the valedictory session, the MEA said in a statement.

The Ministry of External Affairs, through its arbitration cell, along with the Permanent Court of Arbitration (PCA), The Hague organised the three-day capacity building workshop on Investment Treaty Arbitration in a hybrid mode.

At the inaugural session, Justice Chandrachud spoke about the need for capacity building in this niche area of law and also stressed the inconsistency and other issues faced by the current Investor-state dispute settlement (ISDS) system.

He also spoke about the work of the United Nations Commission on International Trade Law (UNCITRAL) Working Group-III on ISDS reforms and noted that some of the experts at the training programme and the MEA were active at the UNCITRAL Working Group deliberations. He also stressed on the need to tap into the best talents.

Justice Chandrachud also commended the progress in the implementation of the PCA-India Host Country Agreement. ​The training programme saw enthusiastic participation of over 200 officers from the central government and state governments including participation by officers from the Indian Missions abroad.

Secretary (Economic Relations) Shri Dammu Ravi said the creation of the Arbitration Cell in the MEA would be used as a repository of knowledge on investment treaties and arbitration and build expertise in the field.

He also noted the progress in implementation of the Host Country Agreement entered into between India and the PCA regarding hosting a hearing facility and offices of the PCA at Delhi.

The training programme had experts from across the world who are leading lawyers in the field of investment treaty arbitration taking the participants through the various aspects pertaining to investment treaty arbitrations.

Over the course of three days, various aspects pertaining to investment treaty arbitrations such as jurisdictional issues, functions of the PCA, substantive protections, defenses in investment treaty arbitration and the post-arbitral part of challenge to awards and enforcement of arbitral awards were covered, the statement said ​MoS Rajkumar Ranjan Singh during his valedictory address congratulated Marcin Czepelak, the new Secretary General of the PCA.

He mentioned how institutions like the PCA played a pivotal role in ensuring that peace among nations is maintained, through a civilised and principled settlement of disputes.

He also said that he hopes this training programme would be extremely productive and useful not only for the participants but for the Government of India at large and that the participants would go back, ponder over and deliberate how they can make best use of the knowledge acquired from experts to further national interest.