NYC Roadshow in Vũng Tàu & Quy Nhơn

Report written by Adam Jankowski and Courtney Kemp

The Vietnamese judiciary gathered for ICCA’s New York Convention Roadshow in October, with some 120 judges in attendance, including from the Supreme People’s Court. The Roadshow featured two 1.5-day sessions, with the first on 21-22 October in Vũng Tàu city, followed by a second on 24-25 October in Quy Nhơn city, and was co-organized with the Permanent Court of Arbitration’s Ha Noi office, led by Mr. Neil Nucup.

Representing ICCA’s Judiciary Committee in the first instalment was Mr. Nicholas Lingard, head of Freshfields’ international arbitration practice in Asia, with Dr. Aloysius Llamzon, partner at King & Spalding, in the second.

The Roadshow kicked off with an address from Mr. Nguyen Van Dung, Justice of the Supreme People’s Court, before the ICCA experts provided an overview of the New York Convention. Mr. Hoang Ngoc Thanh, Chief Judge of the Economic Court of the People’s Court of Ha Noi City thereafter led a session on the provisions of Vietnam’s Civil Procedural Code relevant to the recognition and enforcement of foreign arbitral awards, as well as the recent practices of the People’s Court of Ha Noi City.

For the remainder of the Roadshow, Mr. Lingard and Dr. Llamzon took attendees through a detailed analysis and interpretation of the New York Convention, with practical examples. There was a lively debate among the audience, and the event concluded with closing remarks from Justice Nguyen Van Dung. 

The Vietnamese translation of the Second Edition of ICCA’s Judges’ Guide on the Interpretation of the 1958 New York Convention (Judges’ Guide) was launched at the Roadshow, with a copy provided for free to each attendee. The Second Edition of the Judges’ Guide was launched at the ICCA Hong Kong Congress in May 2024, and eventually translated to Vietnamese by the dispute resolution team at Dzungsrt & Associates, led by Dr. Nguyen Thi Thu Trang.