Secretary-General’s keynote address at the Asia Alternative Dispute Resolution (ADR) week 2018 in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia (5-7 May 2018)
The Secretary General of AALCO, Prof. Dr. Kennedy Gastorn addressed the Asia Alternative Dispute Resolution (ADR) Week, 2018 organized by the Asian International Arbitration Centre (AIAC) in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia on Saturday, 5 May 2018.
The three day Conference (5-7 May, 2018) with the theme “Discover the Difference: The Asian Experience” was aimed at highlighting Asia’s unique diverse and cultural standing in the global ADR market in light of its emergence as a leading hub for transnational commercial arbitration. The event marked the 40th year of AIAC and its evolution from a nascent institution to a global ADR centre.
In his keynote address “ADR in a Changing World: The Asian Experience” the Secretary-General made a scholarly analysis of Asia’s outstanding ADR traditions and the path ahead for those mechanisms in future. The address seeking to furnish a prologue to the sessions scheduled over three days took note of AIAC’s recent expansion into holistic dispute management and dispute avoidance and its aspiration to spearhead an era of development and expansion both for AIAC and global ADR ecosystem.
The address was broadly divided into four parts. The first part of the address was a brief overview of the concept and history of ADR mechanisms. The second part of the address was a specific analysis of ADR in Asia touching upon the philosophy, theory and practice of ADR in the continent and the experience of 6 leading Asian destinations namely, Malaysia, Japan, China, Hong Kong, Singapore and South Korea. This part also included an empirical component which highlighted the results of a study to determine attitudes towards ADR in the continent. The third part of the address focused on Indian laws, practice and trends in ADR including the leading Supreme Court judgments on the issue. The fourth and final part established the convergence of diverse Asian approaches as a single eclectic approach to dispute resolution that holds the future of the global ADR regime.
The ADR Week 2018 with thirteen sessions spread out over three days also witnessed the official launch of the Asian Institute of Alternative Dispute Resolution (AIADR) a non-profit membership based organization that proposes to set standards, educate and train developing markets in the field of ADR.