The emerging oil and gas industry requires Guyana to sharpen its commercial arbitration skills, Attorney General Basil Williams, SC said yesterday while noting that government will be working to equip its partners with the necessary abilities.
“The International community’s growing attraction to Guyana and the bourgeoning interests of investors in the oil and gas sectors demand that our standards are tested and raised against the highest of benchmarks and the best standards of the international legal, business and dispute resolution community”, Williams said during the opening ceremony of the 3rd International Conference on Commercial Arbitration. The three-day conference was organized by the Chartered Institute of Arbitrators (CIArb) in collaboration with several partners including Caricom and the University of Guyana.
In delivering the feature address, Williams pointed out that arbitration has traditionally been the preferred and accepted mode of resolving international disputes. International investment and commercial transactions alike, he said generally favour the use of arbitration with the power of autonomy over the process, the ability to negotiate your own clause and tailor the procedure of the arbitration as against the strict and often lengthy and costly court proceedings.
