Arbitration and Mediation betweeen South American States and the Arab Gulf States
| Autor | Minas Khatchadourian |
| Cargo | Professor of International Business Law, Alexandria Pharos University. Vice-President of the Sharm El-Sheikh International Arbitration Center for case management |
| Páginas | 121-128 |
Revista Latinoamericana de Mediación y Arbitraje
121
Arbitration and Mediation betweeen South American States and the Arab Gulf
States
Minas Khatchadourian*, University Alexandria Pharos
Egypt
Introduction
1. Over the last decades, the world has witnessed a phenomenal growth in
transnational trade and investment due to the increasingly interrelated and
globalized economy. In particular, there has been an extraordinary growing
commercial flow between South American Companies and their Gulf
counterparts. In this concern, it is important to observe that the interaction
between Latin America and the Gulf has been evolving from traditional
natural resources exploration contracts, or raw material extraction
agreements1, to a more sophisticated trade in goods and services, as parties
from both sides have been exploring new commercial opportunities.
2. Two Arab-South America countries Summits (ASPA) have been held in Brazil 2005, and in
Qatar 2009 respectively. In the second (ASPA) Summit, the leaders of the Gulf Cooper ation
Council (GCC) and of the Mercado Comun del Sur (Mercosur) have agreed to progress their
plan towards the establishment of a Free Trade Agreement (FTA) between these two economic
blocs2. Both sides have confirmed their strong willingness to deepen economic and trade ties
between them as their interests are considered convergent and complementary. The economic
cooperation between the two sides witnessed remarkable progress since the first ASPA Summit
in 2005. For example, the volume of the trade exchange between Brazil and the Arab countries
reached $21 billion at the end of 2008 compared to $8.8 billion in 2005. Also, the volume of
Argentinean trade with the Arab World reached, during the first 10 months of 2007, a total of
$2.7 million3.
* Professor of International Business Law, Alexandria Pharo s University. Vice-President of the Sharm El-Sheikh
International Arbitration Center for case management (www.shiac.com). President of Egypt Legal Desk ( www.
egyptlegaldesk.org). Member of the Egyptian Bar Association. Member of the Eg yptian ADR Association.
1 The Gulf countries together pump 16 million barrels of oil/day or about 20 percent of world supplies. They are
home to so me 45% of the world's proven reserves of crude oil and approximately 22% of the world 's reserves of
natural gas.
2 The Mercosur has a total population of 270 million inhabitants and the Gulf Co operation Council has a
population of about 40 million inhabitants.
3 See the statistics published on the website of Arab-Brazilia n Chamber of Commerce (www.ccab.com.br) as well
as the statistics on the website of the Camara de Comercio Argentino Arabe ( www.ccaa.com.ar). The Mercosur
has already signed a framework agree ment with the Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC) an d is negotiating actually a
Free Trade Agreement (FTA). A similar framework agreement has been signed with Egypt and Jordan has
requested officially to conclude a FTA with Mercosur.
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