On 1 September 2023, the Centre for International Law (CIL) held a Singapore Convention Week (SCW)-Partner Event entitled “Getting the Most Out of the Singapore Convention in Investor-State Disputes”.

The webinar built upon the success of CIL’s 2022 SCW Partner Event addressing “Conciliation and Mediation Provisions in Investor-State Dispute Settlement Provisions” and provided delegates with a current and practical examination of the role that the Singapore Convention can play in Investor-State Dispute Settlement (ISDS).

The panel discussion was moderated by Professor N. Jansen Calamita, Head, Investment Law & Policy, at CIL. Professor Calamita started the webinar by providing an overview of recent developments in mediation in the ISDS space, e.g., at ICSID and UNCITRAL. Bartum Legum, from Honlet Legum Arbitration (Paris), offered insights into the evaluation of investment cases for their suitability for mediation, based on his experience as both a government lawyer and private practitioner, emphasising the value of early mediation and the importance of non-monetary terms in structuring settlement agreements. James Claxton, a practicing mediator from Waseda University (Japan), identified four tensions that he sees at play in investor-state mediation, including formality versus flexibility and transparency versus confidentiality, as well as suggestions to address them. Daphne Hong, Singapore Attorney General’s Chambers, shared her views on the value of mediation from a government perspective, noting the unique advantages provided by mediation that are not seen in any other dispute resolution mechanism.

In discussion which followed, panellists addressed a wide range of additional issues, including how to help convince parties to consider mediation, the kinds of internal governance mechanisms (e.g., laws, regulations) that can assist states in taking advantage of mediation to resolve disputes, the role of third-party stakeholders in a mediation, the optimum moment at which to mediate an investor-state dispute, and the question of whether a code of conduct might be needed for investor-state mediation.

The webinar was livestreamed on Facebook, and the video recording of the event is available here.