For information only - not an official document
UNIS/L/303
12 September 2020
VIENNA, 12 September (UN Information Service) - Today marks the entry into force of the Singapore Convention on Mediation. On 7 August 2019, 46 States signed the Singapore Convention on Mediation. Since then, seven more States have signed the Convention for a total of 53 signatories. In addition, six countries have ratified the Convention to date - Singapore, Fiji, Qatar, Saudi Arabia, Belarus and Ecuador.
The Singapore Convention on Mediation facilitates international trade and promotes mediation as an alternative and effective method of resolving commercial disputes by providing an effective mechanism for the enforcement of international settlement agreements resulting from mediation.
An online event co-organized by UNCITRAL and the Singapore Ministry of Law celebrated this significant milestone and drew attention to the future application of mediation in the Investor-State Dispute Settlement (ISDS) context. Information about the Convention, the text of the Convention, and the video from the celebratory online event is found on the UNCITRAL website: https://uncitral.un.org/en/texts/mediation/conventions/international_settlement_agreements. The online event can also be found on the Singapore Ministry of Law's Singapore Convention website along with materials from the signing ceremony held on 7 August 2019: https://www.singaporeconvention.org/.
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The United Nations Commission on International Trade Law (UNCITRAL) is the core legal body of the United Nations system in the field of international trade law. Its mandate is to remove legal obstacles to international trade by progressively modernizing and harmonizing trade law. It prepares legal texts in a number of key areas such as international commercial dispute settlement, electronic commerce, insolvency, international payments, sale of goods, transport law, procurement and infrastructure development. UNCITRAL also provides technical assistance to law reform activities, including assisting Member States to review and assess their law reform needs and to draft the legislation required to implement UNCITRAL texts. The UNCITRAL Secretariat is located in Vienna, Austria, and maintains a website at https://uncitral.un.org/ .
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For more information please contact:
José Angelo
Estrella Faria
Principal Legal Officer and Head, Legislative Branch
UNCITRAL Secretariat
Email: joseangelo.estrella-faria[at]un.org
