Bahrain is to open an alternative dispute resolution centre to conduct international arbitrations, following an agreement formalised at the Bahrain embassy in London today.

Bahrain’s Ministry of Justice signed an operating agreement with the American Arbitration Association (AAA) to establish the Bahrain chamber for dispute resolution (BCDR-AAA).

Bahrain, which recently enacted legislation entrenching the role of the BCDR-AAA in domestic law, claims its secure and well-regulated commercial environment makes it well placed to provide a forum for the resolution of commercial disputes across the area.

Bahrain Minister of Justice Shaikh Khalid bin Ali Al Khalifa said the BCDR-AAA would provide international law firms, multinationals and governments with a ‘purpose-built solution for the rapid, effective and certain resolution of commercial disputes, including arbitration and mediation’.

William Slate, president of the AAA, said Bahrain has a ‘unique standing’ in the Gulf region as a centre for commercial transactions, particularly in the financial sector. He predicted the new mediation chamber ‘will soon establish itself as the pre-eminent alternative dispute resolution facility within the Gulf and surrounding region’.