The multinational and uniquely global nature and outreach of the ICC arbitration system necessarily imply that there is practically no matter or issue affecting business arbitration deprived of interest from the perspective of ICC arbitration. This new issue of the Bulletin vividly illustrates such a situation.

The ICC played a decisive role in the work that led to the 1958 New York Convention on the Recognition and Enforcement of Foreign Arbitral Awards.1 This year, the world celebrated the first 40 years of life of the New York Convention. As indicated in this issue of the Bulletin, the Court's Chairman, Dr Robert Briner, represented the Court in the commemorative conference that took place in New York last June and delivered a stimulating paper which is reproduced in these pages. Also in this issue, Mr Albert Jan van den Berg writes on enforcement of annulled awards as a follow-up to Mr Jan Paulsson's article touching on the same topic published in the previous issue of the Bulletin. Enforcement of awards remains a matter of vital interest for ICC arbitration.2

Almost 50% of new arbitration cases filed each year with the Court's Secretariat involve Western European parties. Therefore, Mr Guy Block's article on the impact of the coming into effect of the European single currency on 1 January 1999 could not be more timely or opportune from the perspective of ICC arbitration and its users.

The practice of ICC arbitration continuously brings to the foreground different practical matters that are of general interest to anybody involved in commercial arbitration and that are not limited to ICC arbitration users and arbitrators. The article by Richard Kreindler on settlement agreements in the course of ICC arbitrations and the profound and thought-provoking analysis by Christopher Seppala of ICC awards dealing with the FIDIC international conditions of contract confirm the importance of the contributions of ICC arbitration in throwing light on different aspects of commercial arbitration practice in the world.

This issue also provides information on the Court's 75th anniversary conference, held in Geneva last September, as well as on important changes in the structure and composition of the Secretariat.

Horacio Grigera Naón

Secretary General

ICC International Court of Arbitration

1
See Vol.9/No. 1 of this Bulletin.

2
See Art. 35 of the 1998 ICC Rules of Arbitration.