The increasing interest in alternative dispute resolution ("ADR") internationally led the ICC, ICSID and the American Arbitration Association to devote part of their annual joint colloquium in San Francisco last month to the subjects of conciliation and mediation. Indeed, ever since the creation of its arbitration system, the ICC has, for its part, also provided conciliation services, although relatively little use has been made of them. We are therefore reproducing in this issue of the Bulletin the text of a paper produced at the colloquium that describes the ICC conciliation process and the ICC's relevant experience.

Conciliation is, of course, well known to be a popular method of dispute resolution in Asia, in particular. But recourse to international arbitration in that part of the world has been increasing dramatically as an inevitable result of the growth of foreign trade and investment there. The article of Michael Moser in this issue on the recognition and enforcement of foreign arbitral awards in the Asia-Pacific region is therefore particularly timely. The same applies to the contribution of Fali S. Nariman, a Vice-Chairman of the ICC Court, on recent important developments in India, where legislative reform is urgently needed to facilitate the conduct of international arbitrations and to make the arbitration process more effective.

One country that has recently taken an important step forward in this connection is Egypt. The Bulletin's readers will therefore surely be interested in the commentary in this issue on the new Egyptian arbitration law by Dr. Yehia El Gamal, the ICC Court's Egyptian member.

We are also pleased to reproduce in this issue a report of Yves Derains to the ICC's Commission on International Arbitration concerning the ICC's Rules on the Regulation of Contractual Relations together with further extracts from recent ICC arbitral awards.

Eric A. Schwartz

Secretary General

ICC International Court of Arbitration