As Chair of the ICC UAE Commission on Arbitration, it is with great pleasure that I write the introduction to what I hope will become a respected and useful book of UAE case law on arbitration.

Having been a practitioner and scholar of arbitration in the United Arab Emirates for 25 years, I have had the benefit of observing the judiciary’s changing attitude to arbitration and, with it, the growth in popularity of the field itself.

What is important to remember is that the UAE, at the time of publication, has only just celebrated its 41st birthday as a federation. Therefore, the nation and its judiciary are still very young. However, in that short space of time, the country has witnessed astonishing domestic growth across a wide range of sectors. Crucially, the UAE has also successfully implemented mechanisms to encourage and promote foreign investment. This success has necessitated the rapid development of the UAE’s legal system, and both foreign and local investors have been able to take comfort in the fact that they enjoy a legitimate choice with respect to the forum for the final and binding resolution of their disputes: the UAE courts, of course, or arbitration – in an increasingly arbitration-friendly environment.

Perhaps the proudest moment for the UAE was its reservation-free accession to the New York Convention, a milestone that occurred in 2006. Parties seeking to have their foreign awards enforced within the UAE are now armed with the knowledge that the New York Convention has been successfully invoked on numerous occasions. Similarly, the accession has opened the door for parties armed with UAE awards to seek enforcement in other applicable New York Convention jurisdictions.

Despite the UAE’s youth, as demonstrated by the collection of judgments in this book, arbitration practitioners in this jurisdiction already benefit from a body of jurisprudence that sets forth the UAE’s position on major elements of arbitration. A collective presentation of the specific requirements of arbitration in the UAE is the very purpose of this important book.

I wish to acknowledge the efforts of my fellow commission members Hassan Arab, Lara Hammoud and Graham Lovett in producing this book, which I am confident will act as a solid guide to arbitration in the UAE.

Essam Al Tamimi
Chair, ICC UAE Commission on Arbitration