Sheikha Haya Bint Rashed Al-Khalifa, Chair of the Bahrain Chamber for Dispute Resolution - the BCDR-AAA - Sunday announced the launch of the Chamber's five day out-reach campaign in Saudi Arabia and Bahrain, according to a press release. The aim of the campaign is to reach out to professional business organisations, lawyers, bankers and engineers in the Kingdoms of Saudi Arabia and Bahrain to promote and attract trade and investment in the region. The BCDR-AAA will be emphasising the importance of a robust legal framework providing commercial organisations with the reassurance they need to conduct their business effectively. The BCDR-AAA who will be meeting with officials at the Chambers of Commerce and Industry in Riyadh on April 12 and in the Eastern Province on April 13 began their campaign Sunday at the Bahrain Chamber of Commerce and Industry. Sheikha Haya was joined by Richard Naimark, Senior Vice President of International and Mark Appel, Senior Vice President for Europe, the Middle East and Africa, from the BCDR-AAA's joint partner, the American Arbitration Association. Shaikha Haya said: “The Kingdoms of Saudi Arabia and Bahrain have traditionally shared a very close and special relationship based on a shared vision to preserve and promote the prosperity and commercial growth of the region. I am particularly grateful to the lawyers and business professionals in both Kingdoms for welcoming us so warmly and for co-operating with us to raise the standard of alternative dispute resolution in the region.” Richard Naimark, Senior Vice President of International, AAA said: “Alternative dispute resolution is a very effective mechanism not only for solving disputes after the event but also for being prepared should a dispute arise. The BCDR-AAA offers tailor-made solutions for businesses in the shape of pre-emptive dispute resolution clauses which can be inserted into their contracts. I believe that working with organisations like the Chambers of Commerce and Industry in the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia, the BCDR-AAA can help businesses in the Kingdom and regionally to carry out their business safe in the knowledge that they have a reliable legal framework to support them.” The BCDR-AAA officially opened for business on January 11, 2010, to provide international, regional and domestic businesses with arbitration and mediation services for the rapid, effective and binding resolution of commercial disputes. It is the world's first alternative dispute resolution centre to introduce a free arbitration zone option under section two of the decree which states that the national courts cannot interfere with the arbitral award granted by the BCDR-AAA where the two parties have agreed to be bound by the outcome. Bahrain's free arbitration zone will, therefore, offer jurisdictional and legal certainty to the recognition of arbitration awards, an essential component of modern day commercial transactions.
