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China welcomes Oz as arbitration destination
AUSTRALIA'S BID to promote itself as a desirable venue for international arbitration at last week's World Expo 2010 was a resounding success, according to the Australian Centre for International…
Lawyers Weekly
AUSTRALIA'S BID to promote itself as a desirable venue for international arbitration at last week's World Expo 2010 was a resounding success, according to the Australian Centre for International Commercial Arbitration (ACICA) president, Doug Jones.
"It went really well. I was really pleased," Jones told Lawyers Weekly.
"The mix of people there was really good and ... broadly speaking, the reaction was very positive. It was a great start to what will obviously need to be a continued effort in promoting Australia as a neutral venue to the Chinese. It's just a step down the path, but a very effective one."
The forum and luncheon were attended by numerous senior Chinese lawyers, judges and in-house counsel who were treated to Australian delicacies and speeches from Jones, Solicitor-General Stephen Gageler and Federal Court judge Patrick Keane.
"[Our] speeches were designed to bring to the attention of quite a large audience of Chinese [lawyers] the fact that Australia is open for business in terms of international arbitration," said Jones.
"We also had a group discussion on how to more effectively promote Australia as a neutral venue for Chinese parties and some very good ideas came out of that, which we are intending to follow up."
One such idea is enlisting a senior Chinese lawyer, who will be charged with promoting Australia as an arbitration destination.
