The Bahrain Council for the Settlement of International Disputes, in cooperation with the Bahrain Chamber for Dispute Settlement, hosted a conference entitled “The Future of International Commercial Courts: Towards Cross-Border Justice,” at the Ritz-Carlton Hotel – Bahrain.
This landmark event followed the inauguration of the Bahrain International Commercial Court, a unique bilingual judicial institution established under a treaty with the Republic of Singapore, and whose model was inspired by the International Commercial Court in Singapore.
The conference began with welcome speeches delivered by His Excellency Sheikh Khalid bin Ali Al Khalifa, Vice President of the Supreme Judicial Council and President of the Court of Cassation in the Kingdom of Bahrain, and His Excellency Justice Sundaresh Menon, Chief Justice of the Supreme Court of Singapore. The program included a discussion session moderated by Professor Marika Patrani Poulsson, Secretary-General of the Bahrain Council for the Settlement of International Disputes, with the participation of Professor Jan Poulsson, President of the International Commercial Court in the Kingdom of Bahrain, Judge Philip Jayaratnam from the International Commercial Court in Singapore, and Professor Joan Donohue, former President of the International Court of Justice and judge at the International Commercial Court in the Kingdom of Bahrain, where the session addressed the topic “International Commercial Courts: New Arbitration for 2025 and Beyond.” The dialogue focused on the evolving role of commercial courts as neutral platforms for global business, the growing interaction between arbitration and judicial mechanisms, as well as strategies for promoting cross-border justice in a rapidly changing legal landscape.
Justice Chile Eboe Osugie of the Caribbean Court of Justice delivered the keynote address entitled “No Trade Without Peace,” emphasizing the close interconnection between effective dispute resolution, ensuring legal certainty and supporting economic growth.
The conference concluded with a speech delivered by His Excellency Mr. Murali Pillai, Senior Minister of State for Law of the Republic of Singapore, who emphasized the growing bilateral judicial cooperation between the Kingdom of Bahrain and Singapore, praising the two countries’ commitment to promoting the best international practices in the field of judiciary and legislation.
The conference witnessed the presence of an elite group of judges, senior government officials, legal experts and commercial practitioners from more than a dozen countries, where discussions addressed the impact of new international courts on the movement of trade and investment, innovations in the field of cross-border dispute settlement, and the Kingdom of Bahrain’s vision of its growing role as a regional center for commercial justice and international legal cooperation.
