2024 ICCA President's Report to the ICCA Membership
From ICCA President Stanimir Alexandrov, January 2025
As I reflect on the past year to write this message to the ICCA Membership, I am proud of all that ICCA has achieved in 2024. I thank all of our Members for their support, which allows us to pursue an array of activities furthering our mission of promoting arbitration globally.
In May 2024, the ICCA community had the opportunity to gather and connect in person during the 26th ICCA Congress in Hong Kong. This Congress focused on the theme “International Arbitration: A Human Endeavour”. During those days, a record number of delegates were able to follow lively expert discussions on a range of topics. These included the science or art of decision-making and the impact of A.I. on arbitration. I am grateful to the Programme and Host Committees for their joint effort to put on such a ground-breaking event.
Our outreach initiatives have been productive as ever. In 2024 ICCA’s Judiciary Committee held roadshows in the Philippines, Saudi Arabia and Vietnam, held a judicial roundtable in Hong Kong, and developed a Second Edition of ICCA’s Guide to the Interpretation of the 1958 New York Convention. The English-language Guide has already been translated into six additional language versions, which are all freely available on the ICCA website. Translations into 22 more languages will follow.
ICCA continued its commitment to Diversity and Inclusion initiatives throughout 2024. The ICCA Inclusion Fund provided the means for 29 people to attend the Hong Kong Congress. The Johnny Veeder Fellowship Programme awarded grants to eight fellows, assisting them with pursuing PhDs, internships and other projects. We have also continued our support of Young ICCA’s mission to open the doors of international arbitration to a new generation of lawyers through training, mentoring and scholarships.
In regard to ICCA publications, in 2024 we kept the arbitration community up to date on local laws and practices by refreshing country reports and legislation in the ICCA Handbook Commercial Arbitration. The ICCA Yearbook and the ICCA Awards Series reported on 120 court decisions and 10 arbitral awards throughout the year. With those additions, ICCA has reached a total of approximately 3,500 curated decisions and over 650 awards in both collections. Additionally, ICCA has entered into agreements with five additional arbitral institutions to make previously unpublished arbitral awards available in the ICCA Awards Series. These awards and decisions have been selected for their contribution to the development of international arbitration and are available to readers through the Kluwer Arbitration database.
We are now looking forward to seeing our Members at the ICCA-KIAC Conference that will take place in Kigali, Rwanda on 5 June 2025. This conference will explore the theme “Africa & International Arbitration: Untold Stories”, and a line-up of stellar speakers has been secured.
More information about all of our activities and programmes can be found on the ICCA website.
Stanimir Alexandrov,
ICCA President