Signing of instruments hailed

THE judiciary has congratulated Foreign Affairs and Trade Minister Soroi Eoe for signing the formal instruments for the country’s accession to the New York Convention.
Justice Jeffery Shepherd said Eoe, who signed the instruments on June 16, paved the way for Papua New Guinea’s accession to international arbitration laws known as the New York Convention.
The New York Convention provides standards and the enforcement of foreign and arbitration awards.
“The New York Convention is regarded as the cornerstone of international arbitration,” Justice Shepherd said. “This is a very important step from the judiciary’s perspective.”
Companies wanting to invest in any county always ask for a good arbitration in their commercial agreements.
Justice Shepherd said this in Port Moresby last week during a discussion panel on doing business in PNG: challenges and opportunities.
The session was part of the European Union-PNG Business and Investment Summit.
He said the Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade will now allow the acceding process to take place.
“The Department of Foreign Affairs will now convey that instrument to Papua New Guinea’s head of mission in New York,” he said.
“What will happen next is that there will be circulation on a new arbitration law.
“That will then be circulated to all interested parties, government agencies, government departments, industry, various chambers of commerce, PNG law societies, PNGEU business council.
“We hope that the consultation process will be completed by September, and the Bill goes before Cabinet before the end of the year,” Justice Shepherd said.
“Up till recently, only three South Pacific countries had subscribed to the New York convention: Marshall Islands, Cook Islands and more recently in 2017, Fiji.”
PNG is now poised to become the 160th country to accede to the New York Convention, Timor Leste and possibly Tonga and Samoa, and would be the next Pacific state to join.
“The PNG judiciary has long been aware for the need to modernise its arbitration legislation,” Justice Shepherd
The convention on the Recognition and Enforcement of Foreign Arbitral Awards, also known as the New York Convention, was adopted by a United Nations diplomatic conference on June 10, 1958, and entered into force on June 7, 1959.
The convention requires courts of contracting states to give effect to private agreements to arbitrate and to recognise and enforce arbitration awards made in other contracting states.
Widely considered the foundational instrument for international arbitration, it applies to arbitrations that are not considered as domestic awards in the state where recognition and enforcement is sought.