TEMPO.CO, Jakarta - The Indonesia National Board Of Arbitration (BANI) will host the Asia Pacific Regional Arbitration Group (APRAG) Conference on October 6-8, 2016, in Nusa Dua, Bali.

The event will adopt the theme: The Rise of International Commercial Arbitration and Developments in Investment Treaty Arbitration: Asia’s Response. According to BANI chairman M. Husseyn Umar, the theme has been chosen considering that many regions in the world and Asia in particular have experienced significant changes to commercial arbitration.

“Regions see arbitration as an option with regards to investors-state dispute settlement (ISDS). Such developments have been exciting yet challenging, particularly for arbitral institutions in Asia,” M. Husseyn said.

He said that the commercial arbitration has been rapidly growing, especially on diversity and unification of arbitration practices. In a similar way, investment disputes have prompted states to make varied response to the ISDS.

According to Hussyen, the APRAG Conference 2016 is an exciting forum in which arbitration experts the world over will be brought together to discuss and find solutions for current issues, particularly on the development of arbitration and investment treaty arbitration.

He explained that the conference will focus in a wide range of issues such as diversity and unification of arbitration practices in Asia, funding and investment costs as well as commercial arbitration, investment arbitration in Asia, the prospect of the harmonization of investment and commercial arbitration in the newely established ASEAN economic community and developments in its member states as well as cooperation prospects.

Aside from local arbiters, the APRAG Conference will also be participated by international arbiters, legal experts, the government and business owners. The APRAG Conference 2016 will be opened by the Supreme Court (MA) chief Hatta Ali, accompanied by the Indonesian Chamber of Commerce and Trade (Kadin) Rosan P. Roeslani. The BANI was established in 1977 at the discretion of Kadin to settle disputes among business owners.

“We are hopeful that in the APRAG 2016 we can exploit this golden opportunity to obtain new knowledge from leading arbitration experts and to widen arbitration networks, following a myriad of ongoing commercial disputes in the free trade era,” M. Hussyen concluded.

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