Mediation and Arbitration – Global Developments

The world’s leading specialists in mediation and arbitration gathered at the Ivane Javakhishvili Tbilisi State University, where an English-language international conference Mediation and Arbitration – Global Developments was opened on October 28.

TSU Rector, Academician Vladimer Papava said that “very famous, world-class lawyers have gathered at TSU to discuss the issues related to mediation and arbitration. The TSU Faculty of Law has been working actively and the tradition established at the faculty still continues: international conferences are being organized at TSU and we can only support and welcome this fact.”

“The today’s conference is very important for finalizing the mediation project in Georgia. Now we are at the final stage of this project and quite soon we will start discussing particular cases through mediators. This conference will help us learn about which particular stage we have reached and how well we have reached the stage, when the cases are to be delivered from courts to mediators, who will ultimately settle the disputes,” Chairman of the Supreme Court of Georgia Konstantine Kublashvili said.
“Mediation is an alternative dispute resolution mechanism through which a party is able to avoid court dispute and reach dispute resolution through the third party. A mediator is not a decision maker; this is the third party, who helps the parties to reach a particular agreement. One of the key issues of mediation is that dispute resolution process moves to the third party instead of an official agency,” Michael Tsur, the founder and director of the first center for mediation and conflict resolution in Israel, said.   
The conference was organized by TSU National Center for Alternative Dispute Resolution (NCADR) through the cooperation with U.S. Agency for International Development (USAID); South Texas College of Law; East-West Management Institute (EWMI) and Judicial Independence and Legal Empowerment Project (JILEP).
Georgian and foreign experts made their speeches at the international conference, in particular: Stacey L. Barnes (USA); Michael Tsur (Israel); Katarina Kresal (Slovenia); Aleš Zalar (Slovenia); Yasuhei Taniguchi (Japan); Yoshihisa Hayakawa (Japan); Inga Kačevska (Latvia); Sophie Tkemaladze (East-West Management Institute/Judicial Independence and Legal Empowerment Project); Giorgi Tsertsvadze (TSU National Center for Alternative Dispute Resolution); Lasha Nodia (Georgian Association of Arbitrators); Ani Subeliani (Ministry of Justice of Georgia).
The conference was closed on October 29.