Small businesses can benefit from alternative dispute resolution
Senator the Hon. Maxine McClean, Minister of Foreign Affairs and Foreign Trade, conversing with International Law Attorney, Calvin Hamilton, at the International Chamber of Commerce (ICC) Young Arbitrators Forum (YAF) Caribbean Series, held at Hilton Barbados Resort yesterday.
Some of those who attended yesterday’s forum.
THE International Chamber of Commerce (ICC) Young Arbitrators Forum (YAF) Caribbean Series got under way at the Hilton Barbados Resort yesterday.
The ICC YAF Caribbean series, being held in association with Dentons and Guglielmino & Asociados, is a set of events held throughout the Caribbean region that contribute to growing regional dialogue on the usefulness of international commercial arbitration.
The YAF Caribbean Series: Barbados is the second event in YAF’s series of educational conferences and workshops on contemporary arbitration issues.
Acknowledging the theme “Entrepreneurship and Commercial Arbitration”, Senator the Hon. Maxine McClean, Minister of Foreign Affairs and Foreign Trade, said that the availability of arbitration as one of the key means of alternative dispute resolution in commerce, is central to the sustainable growth and development of small businesses, particularly in small states such as Barbados.
She explained that it is equally important that the price points for such a solution must not act as a barrier to use of this facility by small business owners.
“This is why it is necessary to have an appropriate number of skilled and trained arbitrators in the region,” she stressed.
The Senator also expressed that she was pleased that the conference also focused on how contracts can be crafted to facilitate arbitration as a means of dispute settlement, and its role in strategic planning and innovation that small, medium and large enterprises do have to consider.
“I want to commend the conference organisers for creating a dialogue among young attorneys and others, about how they can start to view themselves as legal practitioners and entrepreneurs. With such a perspective, our young and bright legal resources can start to offer an area of expertise outside of the mainstay that still defines legal practice across the region.
“Anything that can diversify the legal practice and cultivate greater synergies between the legal profession and private enterprise outside of the courts, can only auger well for accelerated growth, modernisation and innovation of the Caribbean,” Senator McClean added.
Section: