Author: Zawya by Refinitiv
With a view to supporting the contracting sector in Saudi Arabia and providing the best alternative dispute resolution solutions, the Saudi Center for Commercial Arbitration signed a memorandum of understanding with the Saudi Contractors Authority during the opening ceremony of the International Contracting Conference and Exhibition, which started in Riyadh on 26 September. H.E. Minister of Municipal & Rural Affairs and Housing Mr. Majid bin Abdullah bin Hamad Al-Hoqail sponsored and attended the event.
In signing the MOU, the SCCA was represented by its CEO, Dr. Hamed bin Hassan Merah, while Saudi Contractors Authority Secretary General Eng. Thabet bin Mubarak Al Suwaid signed the MOU on behalf of the Authority.
This step reflects the SCCA’s great interest in the Saudi contracting sector, in the form of offering it the latest institutional arbitration solutions, and providing specialized arbitrators and mediators on SCCA rosters. Contracting and engineering disputes make up 52% of the total cases that have been filed with the SCCA, placing the sector first among the 29 business sectors represented in the cases filed thus far.
The MOU aims to stimulate strategic and operational collaboration between the SCCA and the Saudi Contractors Authority to prevent the occurrence of commercial disputes and to settle existing contracting sector disputes in Saudi Arabia.
Under the MOU, the SCCA will provide technical support to the Authority in order to promote the inclusion of a dispute resolution clause in contracting sector contracts and to create a favorable environment for dispute resolution through arbitration, mediation, and other forms of ADR in accordance with the SCCA’s institutional rules and under its administration.
The MOU also provides for the parties to collaborate in training, awareness-raising, and capacity-building around ADR by enhancing the skills of arbitrators, mediators, and experts, and by increasing the capabilities of lawyers, legal counsels, and contract officers to formulate dispute resolution and arbitration clauses.
