At this month’s BVI Finance Breakfast Forum, attendees will have the pleasure of engaging in various discussions on international arbitration and its benefits to the British Virgin Islands and the wider region.

Held under the theme “International Arbitration: The Economic Impact and Benefits for the BVI and the Caribbean”, the October BVI Finance Breakfast Forum will be held on Thursday, October 6, from 8:00 a.m. to 9:30 a.m. at the BVI Finance conference room.

The event features discussions about the BVI as an attractive centre for international disputes, the future of the BVI International Arbitration Centre (BVI IAC), and the projected impact of the BVI IAC on the local and regional economy.

Panelists include international arbitrators Mr. Niccolo Landi and Mr. Gerard St. C. Farara, QC; Chief Executive Officer of the BVI IAC, Mr. Francois Lassalle; General Counsel of the Financial Services Commission and arbitrator Ms. Dawn Smith, as well as world renowned international arbitrator Mr. John Beechey, CBE.

Mr. Beechey’s participation in the event is especially anticipated because he is among the best known arbitrators in the world. During his lengthy career, he has served as President of the International Court of Arbitration (ICC), as a Vice-President and member of the Board of the London Court of Arbitration. He has also served on the Executive Board of the American Arbitration Association (AAA) in New York.

He is currently the President of the ICC UK’s Committee for Arbitration and Alternative Dispute Resolution, and a member of the Governing Body of ICC UK. He is the Chairman of the Board of the BVI International Arbitration Centre; a member of the ICC Commission on Arbitration; and a Council member of the ICC Institute of World Business Law.

Mr. Beechey is a Fellow of the Chartered Institute of Arbitrators; a member of the Investment Advisory Panel of Woodsford Litigation Funding; a member of the Council of the Australian Centre for International Commercial Arbitration (ACICA); and a member of the Council of Arbitration of the Mumbai Centre for International Arbitration (MCIA).

Additionally, he has also participated in the ground-breaking International Bar Association working groups responsible for the Rules on the Taking of Evidence in International Commercial Arbitration and the Conflicts of Interest Guidelines. Mr. Beechey was an Observer (initially, for the AAA and latterly for the ICC) at the United Nations Commission on International Trade Law (UNCITRAL) Working Group.

Moreover, he has contributed to the revision of the UNCITRAL Model Law and the UNCITRAL Rules of Arbitration. He is an occasional lecturer at the Universities of Columbia in New York, Oxford, Milan, Munich and Vienna and at the Max-Planck Institute in Luxembourg.

The BVI Finance Forum Series provides private sector professionals, government officials and other interested persons in the community with an opportunity to join together learn, share ideas and discuss critical issues affecting the BVI’s status as an international finance centre. To register for the event, visit www.bvifinance.vg or contact events@bvifinance.vg. For more information on BVI Finance follow us @BVI Finance on Facebook, Twitter and LinkedIn.