CRCICA held its seventh World’s Sole Biennial International Conference on “The Role of State Courts in International Arbitration- SHARM EL SHEIKH VII” on 9-10 December 2018 at Savoy Hotel, Sharm El Sheikh, Egypt.

SHARM ELSHEIKH 2018 was the seventh of highly successful international series of conferences being held biennially since 2005 in cooperation with the United Nations Commission on International Trade Law (UNCITRAL), the International Federation of Commercial Arbitration Institutions (IFCAI) and the Arab Union for International Arbitration (AUIA).

SHARM ELSHEIKH 2018 was sponsored by 32 firms and organizations from 10 countries. Youssef & Partners have GOLD SPONSORED the Conference for first time this year. The Conference’s silver sponsors were Shahid Law Firm and Matouk Bassiouny & Hennawy. The Bronze sponsors were Shehata Attorneys at Law, Al Tamimi & Co., Aztan Law Firm, Obeid Law Firm, Ali & CO., and Fahad Elrefaei & Partners Consulting & Law Firm. Lunch was supported by Nassar Law. Supporting Organizations were a mixture of law firms, regional arbitration institutions, arbitration forums and consulting companies. Law firms and consulting companies included Mayer Brown, Rizakana & Partners, Jaber Law Firm, Mahmood Hussein Law Firm, Hassouna and Abu Ali Attorneys at Law, Karim Adel Law office, Badran Law Office, Kosheri, Rashed & Riad- Legal Consultants & Attorneys at law, BDO Legal, and Quantum Global Solutions. Arbitration institutions and legal organizations included the Bahrain Chamber for Dispute Resolution (BCDR), the Riyadh Chamber and the AEJF. The Conference was also supported by an unprecedented number of African organizations and forum: the APAA, Africa Arb, the AAA, and the East Africa International Arbitration Conference. Media partners were GAR, Law TV, Lex MEA, the I-Arb Africa, and TDM OGEMID.

2018 SHARM ELSHEIKH agenda included important topics related to the arbitration practice and relationship with state courts. The topics covered controversial issues in Egypt, the Middle East, Africa and worldwide. Latest developments related to the role of state courts in international arbitration on the Arab, African and international levels were addressed, in addition to many of the most currently debated issues including, for instance, the enforcement by state courts of the interim measures and the decisions of the emergency arbitrators, challenges facing the parties in the post-arbitral phase, and sovereign immunity against enforcement of arbitral awards according to the law and case law in France, Belgium, the United Kingdom, the United States and the OHADA. The 2018 Conference also included an important session on investment arbitration, focusing on the role of state and regional courts in investment arbitration. The Conference also witnessed the celebration of the 60^th Anniversary of the New York Convention in its second day.

The conference was attended by 234 participants from 28 countries: Austria, Bahrain, Belgium, Cameroon, Canada, Chile, Egypt, France, Germany, Iraq, Italy, Jordon, Lebanon, Morocco, Nigeria, Palestine, Qatar, Rwanda, Saudi Arabia, South Africa, Spain, Sudan, Sweden, Switzerland, Syria, Tunisia, the United Arab Emirates, the United Kingdom and the United States.