This issue of the ICC International Court of Arbitration Bulletin is published as the community of international commercial arbitration users and specialists prepares to celebrate the fiftieth anniversary of the United Nations Convention on the Recognition and Enforcement of Foreign Arbitral Awards. More commonly known as the New York Convention, this multilateral treaty has been instrumental in making arbitration such an effective means of resolving international trade disputes. States adhering to the Convention commit themselves to ensuring that arbitration agreements and awards are recognized and enforced within their own territory, subject to the conditions laid down in the Convention. Given that this commitment has now been made by 142 countries throughout the world, the New York Convention can truly be regarded as the pivot of international commercial dispute resolution.

The New York Convention is an integral part of the history of ICC. No sooner had ICC been founded than it urgently pressed for action to ensure that arbitration agreements were respected and that awards made on the basis of such agreements were enforceable throughout the world. It saw international conventions as the means to achieving this end. The League of Nations responded with a protocol on arbitration clauses in 1923 and a convention on the execution of foreign awards in 1927. However, arbitration continued to be hindered by difficulties encountered in the enforcement of awards and, after the Second World War, ICC renewed its call for a new convention and drew up a draft text, which was submitted to the United Nations, spurring activity that culminated in the adoption of the New York Convention in June 1958. Since then, ICC has been a strong advocate of the Convention and, as a sign of its continuing interest, has recently created within its Commission on Arbitration, a task force on national rules of procedure for recognition and enforcement of foreign arbitral awards pursuant to the Convention.

It is therefore fitting that the Bulletin should mark this important anniversary with a special focus on the New York Convention. Whilst no one would doubt the success and significance of the New York Convention, the three articles published in this issue take a critical look at its use over the years, especially in light of recent developments in national statutes, case law and deliberations within the United Nations Commission on International Trade Law. Albert Jan van den Berg shares his encyclopedic knowledge of court decisions that refuse to enforce Convention awards; Giuditta Cordero Moss analyses the meaning and interpretation of the writing requirement in light of contemporary attitudes and practice; and William W. (Rusty) Park looks at the respect or non-respect of New York Convention obligations in the international legal order.

This issue also includes an article that examines the arbitrator acting as conciliator. On the basis of a statistical analysis of ICC awards by consent, Gabrielle Kaufmann Kohler and Victor Bonnin consider the relationship between an arbitrator's legal culture and his or her tendency to encourage conciliation, and describe and explain the patterns that emerge.

It gives me great pleasure, in my new role as Secretary General of the Court, to present this new issue, which I hope will stimulate future development and understanding of international arbitration as the method of choice for resolving business-related disputes worldwide.

Jason Fry

Secretary General

International Court of Arbitration