On 20 April 2016, UNIDROIT celebrated the 90th anniversary of its foundation in a Special session of the UNIDROIT General Assembly, which was followed by a symposium devoted to the role and place of private law in supporting the implementation of the international community’s broader cooperation and development objectives.
Delegates from more than 60 countries, including UNIDROIT Member States and non-Member States, as well as representatives from various Intergovernmental Organisations met in Rome, at Palazzo Altieri. The session was presided by the chairman of the UNIDROIT General Assembly for the period 2015-2016, H.E. Ambassador Amr Mostafa Kamal Helmy (Egypt).
Addressing the Assembly on behalf of the host country, Ambassador Antonio Bernardini (Deputy Secretary-General of the Italian Ministry of Foreign Affairs and International Cooperation) stressed that the activities of UNIDROIT span well beyond trade and commercial law strictly speaking, as he praised the contribution of UNIDROIT in two crucial sectors through the 1995 Convention on stolen and illegally exported cultural objects, a remarkable international instrument which in many ways has set the standard for the protection of cultural property, as well as the recent the Legal Guide on Contract Farming, prepared in cooperation with FAO and IFAD, an example of a practical tool to enhance the implementation of the development agenda in the field of agriculture.
His Eminence Cardinal Pietro Parolin (Secretary of State of the Holy See), conveying to the Assembly the greetings of His Holiness Pope Francis, paid tribute “to all the work accomplished by UNIDROIT and to renew the call tirelessly to work for the spread of the message of universal peace, harmony and concord, worldwide, using all means fairly at our disposal.” Prof. Alberto Mazzoni (President of UNIDROIT) and Mr José Angelo Estrella Faria (Secretary-General) also addressed the audience. The Ceremony concluded with statements delivered by Ambassadors and other high-ranking representatives of 18 member States stressing their commitment to UNIDROIT and to its work in the future.
The Special session of the General Assembly was followed by an International Symposium entitled “Private Law, International Cooperation and Development”.
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| Opening ceremony panel, chaired by H.E. Ambassador Amr Mostafa Kamal Helmy (Egypt) | H.E. Ambassador Antonio Bernardini (Deputy Secretary-General of the Italian Ministry of Foreign Affairs and International Cooperation) delivering his opening speech | His Eminence Cardinal Pietro Parolin (Secretary of State of the Holy See) delivering his opening remarks | Prof. Alberto Mazzoni (President of UNIDROIT) delivering his opening speech | Mr José Angelo Estrella Faria (Secretary-General of UNIDROIT) delivering his opening speech |
Videos: Opening Ceremony – Session I – Session II – Session III – Session IV – Conclusions
Professor Iacopo Donati is the UNIDROIT/Bank of Italy Chair Holder and is mainly responsible for assisting in the Bank Insolvency project. He is Professor of Corporate and Insolvency Law at the University of Siena, and coordinates the research project ‘Pro.Re.Ba.’ (Proportionating rules on bank crisis prevention and management to the case of retail banks), which has received funding from the Italian Ministry of University. He has previously taught corporate law at the University of Venice ‘Ca’ Foscari’, at the University of Florence and at the University of Rome ‘Tor Vergata’.
rtered Institute of Arbitrators (London). He further holds a post-graduate diploma in law from the Kenya School of Law. Allan is also a scholar from the Hague Academy of International Law.
rofessor Ignacio Tirado was appointed Secretary-General by the Governing Council at its 97th session, and officially took office on 27 August 2018. A national of Spain, Professor Tirado (Commercial, Corporate and Insolvency Law, Universidad Autónoma of Madrid, Spain) holds a PhD from the Universities of Bologna and Autónoma de Madrid and an LLM from the University of London. Professor Tirado has been a Senior Legal Consultant at the World Bank’s Legal Vice-Presidency and Financial Sector Practice for more than nine years, having also consulted for the IMF on insolvency related matters as well as for the Asian Development Bank on commercial legal reform.
A Swedish national, Ms Lena Peters grew up in Italy where she attended an English school. In 1978 she took her Juris Kandidatexamen at Stockholm University followed by a Master of Laws from King’s College, London (1979). Since 1985 she has been with UNIDROIT, first as Research Officer, lastly as Principal Legal Officer, her main duties being Secretary to the Working Group for the Preparation of Principles of International Commercial Contracts, Secretary to the Study Group on Franchising, Secretary to the Committee of Governmental Experts on Franchising.She also collaborated on the project for the preparation of the ELI-Unidroit Model European Rules of Civil Procedure. She is currently Managing Editor of the Uniform Law Review and responsible for publications at UNIDROIT.
Marina Schneider is Principal Legal Officer and Treaty Depositary at UNIDROIT. She studied law at the University of Strasbourg (France) and Paris I – Panthéon Sorbonne. She joined the UNIDROIT in 1987 and was involved in the elaboration and French versions of most UNIDROIT instruments since. She is in charge of the 1995 UNIDROIT Convention on Stolen or Illegally Exported Cultural Objects and of the UNESCO-UNIDROIT Model Provisions on State Ownership of Undiscovered Cultural Objects. She is the author of the Explanatory Report of the 1995 Convention and many articles on the Convention and other international instruments in the field. Ms Schneider is also responsible for the project on private collections and for the UNIDROIT Convention Academic Project (UCAP). She is member of the Board of the International Society for Research on Art and Cultural Heritage Law (ISCHAL).
Professor of Commercial Law, Carlos III University of Madrid. Currently, Sir Roy Goode Scholar at UNIDROIT, Rome, 2021-2022. Chair of Excellence 2017-2018 at University of Oxford (Uc3m- Santander Program), affiliated to Harris Manchester College. Previously Distinguished Visiting Professor and fellow of a number of Academic Institutions. Arbitrator of Madrid Court of Arbitration. Member of ELI (European Law Institute) Council and Executive Committee. Member of the Expert Group of the European Commission on Liability and New Technologies and member of the Expert Group of the European Observatory of Platform Economy; the International Academy of Commercial and Consumer Law; the expert group of the Inclusive Global Legal Innovation Platform for Online Dispute Resolution – UNCITRAL and Hong Kong Department of Justice. Expert of the UNIDROIT Study Group on the MAC Protocol of the Cape Town Convention on International Interests. Delegate of Spain to UNIDROIT for the adoption of the Protocol, delegate of Spain in Working Group VI of UNCITRAL on secured transactions and in Working Group IV on Electronic Commerce. Member of UNIDROIT Working Groups on Enforcement and Warehouse Receipts.
William Brydie-Watson is an Australian lawyer who specialises in secured transactions law and private international law. Before joining UNIDROIT, William was a government lawyer in the Private International Law and International Arbitration section of the Australian Attorney-General’s Department, where he worked primarily on treaty negotiation and the implementation of private international law treaties in Australia. At UNIDROIT, he is primarily responsible for the implementation of the Mining, Agriculture and Construction (MAC Protocol) to the 2001 Cape Town Convention on International Interests in Mobile Equipment and the development of a Model Law on Factoring. William also serves as UNIDROIT’s liaison with the Asia Pacific Economic Cooperation (APEC) forum and as manager of the Institute’s Scholarship and Internship Programme. Admitted to practice in New South Wales and the High Court of Australia, he has a Bachelor of Arts (honours), a Bachelor of Laws and a Master of Laws from the Australian National University. William also lectures on International Secured Transactions Law at the Eotvos Lorand Faculty of Law in Budapest.