Alexis Mourre

I cannot introduce this second issue of the Bulletin without extending my warmest thanks to all members of the Editorial Board for the tremendous work they have done in producing an outstanding legal publication. The first issue of the Bulletin has been downloaded by 2,336 readers, which makes it one the world's primary arbitration journals. The quality and diversity of the topics that are touched upon in this second issue will no doubt generate broad interest amongst an even wider pool of corporate counsel, practitioners and academics, thus contributing to increasing the Court's outreach and awareness of the unique characteristics of ICC arbitration.

The new management team of the Secretariat is now up and running, and the Court also extends its warmest words of appreciation and encouragement to its new Secretary General Alexander Fessas, its new Deputy Secretary General Ana Serra e Moura, and its new managing counsel Ziva Filipic. They will have to address the many challenges of maintaining the highest possible quality of service for our users, while ensuring the proper functioning of ten management teams operating from four different continents and overseeing the entry into force of our new Expedited Procedure Rules and the many additional services that are now offered to our users in the new ICC Note to Parties and Arbitral Tribunals on the Conduct of the Arbitration. I have no doubt that Alexander, Ana and Ziva, who have displayed in their past functions leadership, vision and rigour, will be up to their new tasks and successfully lead the Secretariat into a new phase of its development.

As the only truly global arbitral institution, the International Court of Arbitration is constantly aiming to be closer to its users in order to better respond to their needs. After the opening of case management teams in Hong Kong in 2008 and in New York in 2012, the Court is now in the final stages of establishing a new team of the Secretariat in São Paolo, Brazil. I would like to take this opportunity to thank ICC Brazil for its support, as well as Marcelo Ferro, Chair of the ICC Brazil Arbitration Commission, Eduardo Damião Gonçalves, and our Vice-President and Court members José Emilio Nunes Pinto, Lauro Gama and João Bosco Lee. Without their efforts, this important project would not have come to fruition. The success of the ICC Brazil Arbitration Day, with more than 200 delegates gathering in São Paulo in May of this year to discuss the latest innovations in the ICC Rules of Arbitration, is a testament to the vitality of the Brazilian arbitration community in the difficult times that this great country is experiencing, and a promise of success for our new case management team. One of the most interesting novelties of our São Paulo team is that cases for the Brazilian business community will be administered in local currency, thus allowing parties to pay advances on costs into a bank account in Brazil. I would like to wish every success to Gustavo Scheffer da Silveira, who will soon lead this important effort as Counsel of the team of the Secretariat of the International Court of Arbitration in São Paulo.

This year is witnessing yet another important step in the development of the Court, with the signature - on the occasion of our third Asia regional conference in June - of a Memorandum of Understanding between the International Court of Arbitration of the International Chamber of Commerce and the Government of Singapore, pursuant to which ICC and the Government of Singapore agree to cooperate, with the aim of establishing an ICC case management team in Singapore and developing and promoting Singapore as a seat and venue for arbitrations in Asia, by advancing thought leadership, developing manpower talent and arbitration services and undertaking joint efforts to develop the culture of international arbitration. With its future Singapore office, the existing successful Hong Kong management team, and its recently created Shanghai representation office, the Court will offer a unique dispute resolution platform for its users in Asia.

No arbitral institution can claim to be truly international without a strong presence in Africa, one of the globe's fastest growing economies, with a rising young and dynamic arbitration community. With close to 400 registered delegates, the success of the second edition of the Court's annual African regional conference, which was held in Lagos, Nigeria, on 15 May 2017, is a testament to the strength of our presence on the continent. I would like to extend my very sincere thanks to ICC Nigeria and to our Vice-President and Court members, Funke Adekoya, Gabriel Olawoyin and Dorothy Ufot, for making such a success of this event. The joint conference on the future of arbitration in Africa, organised by ICC and the IBA on 5 June 2017 in conjunction with the ICC World Council meeting in Nairobi, as well as other events organised in recent months in Angola, Mozambique, Ethiopia and Tanzania, illustrate the immense potentialities of Africa for the development of arbitration globally.

In constantly raising the level of its services, the Court relies on the experience and support of the most knowledgeable practitioners worldwide. In this respect, the first months of 2017 saw the first meeting of the ICC Arab Arbitration Group in Amman, Jordan, in January, and the creation of the East and Central European Arbitration Group in April on the occasion of the first ICC European regional conference in Paris, which was the high point of the Paris Arbitration Week. Both groups will contribute to the cross-fertilization of experiences between the arbitration communities in each region.

The diversity of the Court's membership is of course fundamental to ICC's global reach. In this respect, the implementation of the change to the ICC constitution adopted in June 2016, allowing the appointment of Court members in countries where there is no ICC National Committee or Group, is an important step in extending its global reach. Many of the 41 new Court members appointed at the World Council meeting in Nairobi come from jurisdictions where the Court was never before represented. In Africa, such countries include Benin, the Democratic Republic of Congo, Ivory Coast, Mali, Mozambique, Senegal and Togo. In Asia, the Court now has members in such important countries as Azerbaijan, Kazakhstan, Mongolia, Myanmar and Vietnam. The Court now comprises a total of 184 members from 110 different jurisdictions.

It is also noteworthy that a quarter of the appointees are women. The Court is taking extremely seriously its commitments under the Equal Representation in Arbitration Pledge and will endeavour to significantly increase, year by year, the proportion of women amongst its members, as well as amongst its population of arbitrators.

As the 100th anniversary of ICC fast approaches, I should finally stress how important is the decision of the United Nations General Assembly to grant the status of Observer to ICC. ICC has thus been given a direct and independent voice in the world's greatest international forum, affording it a unique platform to advocate its values of openness, multilateralism and access to justice. The General Assembly's decision is an acknowledgment of the global nature and representativeness of ICC. As the Court expands its global reach, ICC's presence in the UN General Assembly will further help us promote our values in the interest of justice and global growth.

Alexis Mourre

President of the ICC International Court of Arbitration