In an effort to promote Australia as an international seat of arbitration, the Australian Commonwealth Government and the Australian Centre for International Commercial Arbitration (ACICA) jointly held a forum with the title “International Arbitration in Australia: What Chinese Business Needs to Know" in Beijing.   The forum brought together international corporate counsel, government policy advisors, legal commercial directors and investment advisors.

Doug Jones, the president of ACICA, said that international arbitration was emerging as the preferred choice for resolving commercial disputes as more and more international investors, especially Asian investors, were looking to avoid the uncertainty of litigation in a foreign court system.

"With some of the best legal practitioners and stable legal environments, Australia is well positioned to capitalise on the booming global market for cross border dispute resolution, particularly in the Asia Pacific region." said Jones, “We are willing to work with Hong Kong International Arbitration Centre and Singapore International Arbitration Centre, and together seize the booming marketing in the commercial dispute resolution. 

ACICA, established in 1985, is Australia's only international arbitral institution.  It is a signatory to co-operation agreements with over 50 global arbitral bodies including the China International Economic Trade and Arbitration Commission (CIETAC) and the Permanent Court of Arbitration at The Hague.  ALB 

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• Arbitration: the future of Perth (2 February 2009)
• Clayton Utz partner elected head of global arbitration body (25 January 2011)