PCJCCI calls for devising commercial arbitration mechanism

LAHORE: The Pakistan-China Joint Chamber of Commerce and Industry (PCJCCI) has called for devising a foolproof mechanism of commercial arbitration for sustainable development in foreign investment and the international trade sector, a statement said.

Addressing a webinar, PCJCCI president S M Naveed said that in recent years a number of states and municipalities have established new commercial courts, which are perceived by some to be the building blocks of the economic development and global commerce.

“We are keen to develop such commercial courts in Pakistan, which includes those that are designed primarily for domestic disputes and others geared towards international disputes,” he added.

The new international courts share a common aspiration to provide forums for the resolution of commercial conflicts that are cheap, quick, and whose judgments are enforceable.

Munir said that together the courts can make a stronger contribution to the rule of law than they can separately, and through that contribute to stability and prosperity worldwide.

The panel of speakers included judges and lawyers from Pakistan, the UK, Singapore, and China, who shared insights with the launch and evolution of these new courts in the context of both dynamic domestic and global legal transformations.

Justice Jawad Hassan, commercial judge of the Lahore High Court, said that Pakistan has recently established commercial courts at the district level. The new commercial courts dovetail with a number of macroeconomic and geostrategic trends, including the rise of Asia, and China, in particular, as a supplier of both outbound capital and dispute resolution, and the increasing diversification of forums across the world.

The basic principles of commercial law are financial, business, corporate, competition, consumer protection, contract, construction, environmental, intellectual property, insolvency, property, international trade, commodities, energy, maritime, aviation, technology, investment, and oversight of arbitration.

Yang Enqian, deputy chief judge of the Suzhou International Commercial Court, China, said that the international collaboration and cooperation is to be welcomed for a number of reasons – commerce itself is international in nature, the court users will welcome it, the countries will benefit from it, many commercial courts need solutions to some of the same problems in this area, including cost and delay and all commercial courts face the challenge of adapting to the pace and nature of business change.

Nudra B Majeed, barrister and head of chambers, NBM Law Chambers, Pakistan, said: “We should intricate a chain of international commercial courts by appointing judges, lawyers from each and every country, the versatile range of opinions and suggestions will open up new vistas of knowledge and solution to problems.”

Salahuddin Hanif, secretary general of the PCJCCI, said that the challenges being faced by the commercial courts are similar to those being faced by all the courts.

They included cost and resource pressures, maintaining standards, managing complexity, adapting to the pace and nature of business and technological change, and how best to provide access to litigants who cannot afford representation.

The webinar was conducted to provide an in-depth discussion of the new domestic and international commercial courts with a focus on topics, including jurisdiction and legislative basis, regulatory framework, relationship to the domestic court system, staffing and personnel issues, the courts-arbitration nexus, and cross-border disputes and associated enforcement issues.

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