The Bulletin is entering its second year of existence with a different balance of content.

In response to the wishes expressed by many readers, this issue includes a much more substantial selection of extracts from ICC Awards. Construction contracts, and particularly F.I.D.I.C. - based contracts, constitute the theme for the published extracts. Arbitrations concerning such contracts account for a significant percentage of the cases before the ICC. Of course, partial awards in on-going cases and final awards before national courts are not contained in this selection.

The Court's membership for the period 1991-1993 has been renewed and enlarged and is presented in this issue along with a summary of the salient points of ICC arbitration in 1990 - which witnessed a dramatic increase of activity of 18% over the preceding year. Whether this increased is a sign of a marked preference of users of arbitration for institutional as opposed to ad hoc arbitration may not be definitely answered by Gerald Aksen's experience-based analysis on the merits of each type of arbitration. His article does, however, provide important insights for contract negotiators who must decide in favour of one or the other of these two approaches to arbitration.

This edition also contains a second report made by the Working Party on Dissenting Opinions and Interim and Partial Awards of the ICC Commission on International Arbitration. The topic, Dissenting and Separate Opinons, is a controversial one and the carefully reasoned analysis of the report is one to be taken into account. The Working Party's other report - on Interim and Partial Awards - was published in Vol.1/No.2 of the Bulletin.

Finally, there is contained in this issues the second Special Supplement of the Bulletin. Thanks to the cooperation of a number of leading experts in the field, the Supplement examines international arbitration in the dynamic Asia/Pacific region. Numerous recent developments in national laws and international practice appear to contradict the accuracy of the conventional wisdom that international arbitration has not yet taken root in this region.

The present writer now takes leave of the Bulletin's readers. Having had the honour to serve for over six years as Secretary General of the ICC International Court of Arbitration, my future involvement with international arbitration will be from the perspective of private practice. It is certain that each and every issue of this Bulletin will no doubt demonstrate that in the continually evolving and ever-more challenging field of international arbitration, the ICC's commitment to excellence and leadership is a permanent one.

Stephen R. Bond

Secretary General

ICC International Court of Arbitration