The state of arbitration in Mozambique is still incipient and underdeveloped, despite the fact that the country has a legal regime on the matter, approved by Law 11/99 of July 9, i.e. about 24 years ago, says Gilberto Correia, a lawyer and chairman of the Mozambique Internationalization Committee of the Commercial Arbitration Centre (CIM CAC).

For the lawyer and arbitrator, who was speaking this Tuesday, May 30, in Maputo city, at the opening ceremony of the first International Arbitration Conference, the Arbitration Law is already showing signs of being outdated and urgently needs to be reformed, not only to incorporate the 2006 amendments to the UNCITRAL Model Law, but also to include other options to adapt it to the materialization needs felt in the field of domestic and international arbitration.

"The existence of a functioning and evolved commercial arbitration system in Mozambique would be an influential factor in improving the business environment and would stimulate the emergence of more and better national and foreign investment, contributing significantly and permanently to economic growth," said the president of CIM CAC, for whom it is unquestionable that the country needs more and better arbitration, which is crucial for economic growth.

However, despite these findings, Gilberto Correia believes that Mozambique can be considered "arbitration friendly", due to the fact that it ratified the important Washington and New York conventions in 1993 and 1998 respectively, as well as the fact that it is making a huge effort to consolidate means of resolving disputes, such as labor mediation.

The use of arbitration as an extra-state means of resolving commercial disputes, he added, brings several advantages for companies and entrepreneurs, such as speed in resolving disputes, flexibility, greater expertise in analyzing and deciding the merits of the case, confidentiality and enforceability, insofar as arbitration decisions have the same enforceability as a court judgment, among others.

He also said that it is undeniable that Mozambique needs dynamic, efficient and effective commercial arbitration in order to improve the business environment, which will have the direct consequence of attracting more and better investment to the economy.

Present at the opening ceremony, the Minister of Justice, Constitutional and Religious Affairs, Helena Kida, stressed the importance of arbitration and said that the government has been promoting initiatives aimed at introducing institutions that work in this area, such as the recent authorization for the creation of the Mozambican Arbitration Association, "which we hope will contribute, alongside other institutions, to boosting the means of resolving disputes".

"The issue of arbitration has always been at the center of the government's attention, often acting as a way of attracting investment," said Helena Kida, who pointed to the Proposed Revision of the Investment Law, the Law on Public-Private Partnerships, the Law on the State Business Sector, the Labour Law and the Law on Contentious Administrative Proceedings as paradigmatic examples of the importance that the Executive attaches to arbitration.

In another development, she referred to the importance of holding the International Arbitration Conference for the first time, which, in her opinion, makes it possible to gauge the alignment of the private sector with the government, thus creating a platform for constant interaction that will help boost and massify alternative means of resolving disputes.

It is important to note that the aim of the event was to train and inform interested parties about the benefits, vicissitudes and specific elements of commercial arbitration, as well as to contribute to boosting and improving the quality and efficiency of commercial arbitration in Mozambique.