Youth Forum
10.05.2023
16:00–17:30

A BRICS International Investment Arbitration Centre: Format and Potential to Become a Reality

Congress Centre, conference hall B3
International Youth Legal Forum
Broadcast
The establishment of a BRICS international investment arbitration centre is currently being discussed at the highest level. Indeed, in the current environment, such an institution is more relevant than ever. International arbitration institutions based in unfriendly states lack the impartiality and independence required to resolve investment disputes. Meanwhile, trade and economic ties are growing between BRICS member states. This is creating a need for common institutions which could help forge long-term partnerships. A new arbitration centre could eliminate a range of obstacles currently hindering the initiation of arbitration proceedings arising, for example, as the result of an obsolete regulatory framework. What’s more, investment arbitration not only helps strengthen relations between states; it also makes a region more attractive to private investors. A multilateral agreement to protect investment will pave the way to setting up a body able to examine investment disputes. In addition, other guarantees needed to foster an attractive investment climate will be secured. Investment arbitration can also drive change in relation to national regulation, as the arbitration system across the BRICS nations develops as a whole. What should be done to ensure that mistakes are not repeated, and that solutions are found to current problems? What approach is needed to protect the interests of investors in efforts to entice them, while not sacrificing the interests of the state? How should a balance best be struck? What would make such a BRICS institution more attractive to other countries? What would be the main aspects to come under the purview of a BRICS arbitration centre? What additional international acts upholding the work of arbitration centres are needed today? What amendments aimed at supporting the arbitration centre have already been made to national legislation?

Moderator

Ivan Lubin
Assistant of the Department of Civil Procedure, St. Petersburg State University

Panellists

Vasily Anurov
Associate Professor, Arbitrator, Arbitration Center at the Russian Union of Industrialists and Entrepreneurs (online)
Evgeny Bulatov
Head of the Division of International Treaties of the Department of International Law and Cooperation, Ministry of Justice of the Russian Federation
Vladislav Vatamanyuk
Lecturer at the Department of Civil Procedure, Kutafin Moscow State Law University; Attorney at Law, Managing Partner, Vatamanyuk&Partners
Polina Lomakina
Head of the Expert and Contractual Department of the Legal Work Center, Inter RAO
Oleg Skvortsov
Professor of the Department of Commercial Law, St. Petersburg State University

Broadcast