Minister Dlamini Zuma to sign Agreement on Facility for Africa

South African Foreign Minister Dr Nkosazana Dlamini Zuma and the Secretary General of the Permanent Court of Arbitration (PCA) will sign an Agreement on the Establishment of a Facility for Africa at the Presidential Guesthouse in Pretoria on Tuesday 17 April 2007.

The PCA was established in 1899 in The Hague as the first global institution to promote the peaceful settlement of disputes between States. South Africa became a Member State of the PCA in 1997 by acceding to the Convention for the Pacific Settlement of International Disputes.

The PCA offers facilities, professional administration and expert guidance with regard to four of the dispute settlement methods provided for in Article 33 of the UN Charter, namely enquiry, mediation, conciliation and arbitration. Originally it focused only on the settlement of inter-State disputes, but has since extended its facilities to cases involving non-State parties, and can consequently now assist in settling disputes between a State and for example, a foreign investor. The PCA has over the last decades experienced a considerable increase in caseload, which now involves investment and contract disputes, maritime delimitation, international boundaries, banking and finance, international humanitarian law and environmental law. The advantage of using arbitration as a method of dispute settlement over judicial proceedings is that the arbitration proceedings are cheaper and quicker, more flexible and offer a greater degree of autonomy to the parties to the dispute as they can choose the arbitrators and the rules and procedures to be applied.

In order to expand their services geographically, the PCA has opened a Regional Facility for the Promotion of Dispute Resolution through the Mechanisms of the Permanent Court of Arbitration in Costa Rica in order to meet the demands of the Latin American region.

The Permanent Court of Arbitration (PCA) expressed the desire to establish a Regional Facility for the Promotion of Dispute Resolution through the Mechanisms of the Permanent Court of Arbitration in South Africa to service the African continent. The Agreement provides for the establishment of a Regional Facility for the Promotion of Dispute Resolution through the Mechanisms of the Permanent Court of Arbitration in South Africa, to function on an ad hoc basis.

It is considered that the establishment of a Regional Facility for Africa in South Africa will be a positive development, in view thereof that it will offer an alternative way of dispute settlement besides judicial settlement as offered by domestic and international courts, like the International Court of Justice and the African Court of Justice.

Media are invited for the signing ceremony as follows:

DATE : Tuesday 17 April 2007

TIME : 15h30 for 16h00

VENUE : Presidential Guesthouse
Bryntirion Estate
Church Street (Gate 9)
Pretoria
(Please present press cards)
(Please RSVP)

ENQUIRIES/RSVPs : Manusha Pillai on 082 389 3587

Issued by Department of Foreign Affairs
Private Bag X152
Pretoria
0001

16 April 2007

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