International Arbitration Conference of the BCCI Arbitration Court with the Participation of World Experts on Arbitration Procedures and Disputes
An international Conference on the topic of "Cross-border investments in a changing world: sanctions, screening and dispute resolutions" was held on 10 September at Grand Hotel Sofia.
The Conference was organised by the Bulgarian Chamber of Commerce and Industry with the support of E.L.E.C - European League for Economic Cooperation and with the assistance of the Chairman of the Higher Bar Council Dr Ivaylo Dermendzhiev.
Speakers at the event were some of the world's biggest experts in the field of international arbitration procedures and investment disputes - Dr Kevin Carroll and Dr Remy Gerbay from HHR (Hughes Hubbard & Reed).
The event was graced by the presence of a number of official guests, including ministers, representatives of the executive, legislative and judiciary authorities, leading arbitrators, lawyers and legal advisors, representatives of NGOs and embassies.
The guests were welcomed by the Conference Moderator - Dr Ivaylo Dermendzhiev, Ms Maria Pavlova - Minister of Justice, Mr Todor Tabakov - Vice President of BCCI and Mr Branimir Botev - CEO of E.L.E.C /European League for Economic Cooperation/.
The event was opened by Dr Ivaylo Dermendzhiev, Chairman of the Higher Bar Council and Deputy Chairman of the BCCI Arbitration Court, who greeted the guests and noted the extraordinary importance of the topics, pointing out that they are of key significance for attracting investors from the whole world to Bulgaria.
Mr Todor Tabakov, Deputy Chairman of the BCCI Management Council. welcomed the participants and thanked the other co-organisers for their efforts to make the Conference happen. He emphasised that the themes of the present Conference are extremely important for our country against the background of the geopolitical situation in the world and with the unprecedented political crisis in our country and given the more and more openly recognised chronic shortage of qualified personnel in the Bulgarian economy.
Mr Tabakov noted that the present Conference can analyse the prospects for finding a way out of the difficult situation, in which Bulgaria is placed in the process of attracting foreign investments. In addition, he briefly outlined his views on the sanctions, screening and dispute resolution.
The CEO of E.L.E.C – Mr Branimir Botev declared that the vocation of the European League for Economic Cooperation is to build bridges between different countries for more serious economic exchanges.
Ms Maria Pavlova, Minister of Justice, underlined that the significant advantages of arbitration – as an alternative to court proceedings – are quickness and confidentiality, which are especially important in trade legal relationships. The parties can also choose arbitrators with specific competence, they can specify the procedural rules and the law applicable to the subject of the dispute.
Minister Pavlova paid attention to the fact that if we want a stable prospering economy in the global world, it is fundamentally important that the effective national and international legal mechanisms operate and are applied. In this sense, the Bulgarian legislation, and in particular the Ministry of Justice, has set the objective and the main task of achieving legal certainty for economic operators through the development of legislation.
The Conference continued with the essential part, in which the speakers Kevin Carroll and Remy Gerbay made their presentations.
Lawyer Kevin Carroll, a partner in the HHR offices (Hughes Hubbard & Reed), stated that for Washington and probably for the rest of Washington’s close partners, Bulgaria represents a risky country to make investments. He cited several reasons. The relations of representatives of the authorities with Russian oligarchs, which create a negative image for the government. The existing corruption. The widespread black economy sector duplicating many of the mainstream (or ‘formal’) sectors of our economy. In Carroll’s opinion, the black economy sector in our country reaches 1/3rd of the size of national economy.
The said factors along with other factors make Bulgaria a country, in which a hypothetical American investor can commit an unintentional breach, due to which it can subsequently suffer.
According to Kevin Carroll, the fact that Bulgaria has an Arbitration Agreement, signed with the USA, is comforting to investors.
Lawyer Remy Gerbay, a partner in the HHR offices (Hughes Hubbard & Reed), informed that in terms of the number of the arbitration cases, brought against Bulgaria, the country is not badly positioned in comparison with its neighbours. There are 6 cases against our country at the moment, while against Romania, for example, they are 12. The lecturer drew attention also to the fact that big investors have the practice to track carefully the progress of the cases and the case-related hearings.
Mr Gerbay called on the government to ask itself what the reason is for these cases to be present and how they can be avoided, because the claims are most often lodged as a result of a bad decision, taken by the administration, and later they cost a lot.
The Conference ended with the answers to some questions asked by the audience.