GCCCAC received 16 arbitration requests worth $62.5 million

Manama, Jan. 25 (BNA): The GCC Commercial Arbitration Centre (GCCCAC) have received 16 arbitration requests cumulatively worth $62.5 million; in 2019. The arbitration requests included parties whether they were individuals or companies from different countries, such as Bahrain, Saudi Arabia, India, Oman, and United Arab Emirates. GCCCAC’s Bahraini board member Sami Zainal stated that all the arbitration requests have been examined carefully to confirm that they contain an arbitration agreement which is within the GCCCAC’s speciality. He added that the most of these requests have been moved to the litigation stage as soon as they fulfilled the required criteria He indicated that these disputes were related to subscription contracts, real estate development contracts, engineering contracts, contracts of sale (purchasing a flat), contracts for the supply of goods and project implementation contacts. Zainal added that GCCCAC has been witnessing growth especially in registering arbitration requests in the last few years and this reflects the increasing trust for the GCCCAC by business owners and official agencies and also shows the power of the GCCCAC’s arbitral award and its application in the GCC countries. The GCCCAC is proud that after 25 years since its inception it has become the main hub for many arbitration centres in the region for consultation, support and assistance. He said that “regardless the fact that the members of GCC have been establishing national arbitration centres in their respective countries, the arbitration requests that the GCCCAC (which is located in Bahrain) has been receiving is on the rise”. He also mentioned that the construction sector, contracting sector and the real estate development sector are in the forefront of these disputes that the GCCCAC have been receiving. This could be as a result of the increasing activity that the GCC countries have witnessed in the last few years especially in these fields. The financial crises also resulted to disputes as it impacted many projects, whether constructed or under construction. Similarly, the real estate sector and the infrastructure are other areas that been impacted, both commercially and financially. Many disputes and arbitration requests of that nature that had an arbitration clause in them found their way to arbitration whether it was “ad hoc” arbitration or institutional arbitration. “We continue recommending to investors and trade people, to insert the GCCCAC Arbitration clause in their agreements, which will offer them a faster method for resolving such disputes,” he said.