Suggestions, sharing and proposals during the opening ceremony at the seat of Unidroit.
ROME – Transparency, compatibility and reliability of legal systems are decisive elements in favour of investment and shared growth: this theme is at the centre of the training course which is being held at the International Institute for the Unificationf of Private law (Unidroit), addressed to 22 jurists from 17 African countries.
THREE WEEKS AT VILLA ALDOBRANDINI, SEAT OF THE INSTITUTE
These issues are being tackled at Villa Aldobrandini, seat of the multilateral organisation, founded in Rome in 1926.
“Let’s hope that the participants can make the instruments their own, receiving useful information and at the same sharing some with us”, said Ignacio Tirado, Secretary-General of Unidroit, after the speech of the President, Maria Chiara Malaguti.
It was the first day of the second edition of the International Program for Law and Development, an initiative aimed at State judges, lawyers, and drafters of legislative texts from African countries.
FOUR AFRICAN MEMBER STATES
“We want to establish ties with those that come here and with their countries”, continued Tirado. “Africa is a strategic continent for us for various reasons: our 65 Member States represent 90% of world gross domestic product but only four are from the continent”; South Africa, Nigeria, Egypt, and Tunisia are already part of Unidroit.
PARTICIPANTS’ EXPECTATIONS
In the meeting room at the grand opening, there were participants from Algeria and Tanzania, Zambia and Somalia, Malawi, and Ghana. Devisha Vythelingum, a lawyer from Mauritius, said: “Unfortunately my country is still not a Member State of Unidroit, but when I return to Port Louis, I will try to share as much as possible of this experience to favour membership”.
Mohame Dielo, Vice-President of the High Court of Ouahigouya, Burkina Faso: “It is hard to adjudicate in some cases, as national laws are not precise,” declared the magistrate to the press agent of DIRE,
“but the Unidroit Principles can be a very useful reference”.
WHAT DOES “PIANO MATTEI” MEAN?
Regarding private international law as an instrument to prevent problems and, at the same time, “guarantee equality of conditions between the parties”, explained Marco Giungi, Head of the Unit for Strategies and Multilateral Global Processes for Development of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and International Cooperation.
The director read a message from Vice-Minister Edmondo Cirielli, quoting the “Piano Mattei” announced by the Italian government and highlighting that “what is happening in Africa has direct consequences in Europe and vice versa”.
Another matter that arose among the more than 20 ambassadors present during the opening ceremony at Villa Aldobrandini, was the following: “The unification of international law is important, first of all for investments”, according to H.E. Dr Naser Al Belooshi, Ambassador of Bahrain in Italy.
“RULEMAKERS” AND NOT ONLY “RULETAKERS”
Makane Moise Mbengue, Professor of Law at the International Law School of the University of Geneva, provided interesting ideas via videoconference. “We must be rule makers and not only rule takers” was his appeal, calling for an exchange of mutual benefit bringing, at the same time, a sub-Saharan and pan African point of view.
“Africa must build bridges with that which has been done on a world level” says Mbengue: “The more countries that join Unidroit, the better it will be”.
For the original article in Italian and video from press agency DIRE, please click here
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.