Dr. Mohamed Hafez, Counsel and Legal Advisor to the Director, represented CRCICA at Paris Arbitration Week, held during the week of 1-5 April 2019. Dr. Hafez spoke at a seminar & round table hosted and organized White & Case (Paris) on 4 April 2019 titled “the Games of Seats: Arbitral institutions in Africa and the Quest for Ascendancy”. The event focused on key African arbitral institutions and jurisdictions, where an interesting debate took place between panel members as to the pros and cons of arbitration in their jurisdictions and the work of their respective arbitral institutions. Dr. Hafez’s presentation was titled “An overview of African arbitral institutions and their jurisdictions”. He shed light Dr. Hafez shed light on CRCICA’s recognitions and activities focusing lately on collaboration with Africa and Asia, and the issuance of the French version of its rules to promote and support its role in Africa, as well as the variety of nationalities of parties and arbitrators in CRCICA’s cases in 2017 - 2018. He also spoke about arbitration seats, presenting example of cases, which applied CRCICA Rules while having the seat of arbitration outside the Centre’s host state.

The presentations were followed by a roundtable debate through a series of questions being asked by the moderator Ms. Elizabeth Oger-Gross, Partner, White & Case, to the panel focusing on the pros and cons of the respective African arbitral institutions and jurisdictions. Free-flowing discussions following the panel debates, as the audience addressed questions to the panelists focusing on their jurisdictions and arbitral institutions.