13 February, 2018
In conjunction with its 40th anniversary, the Kuala Lumpur Regional Centre for Arbitration (KLRCA) has been officially renamed the Asian International Arbitration Centre. The Arbitration (Amendment) Act 2018 was passed and gazetted on 10 January 2018 to signify the change of name. The name change is part of a larger rebranding for the Centre, which aims to further strengthen its regional footprint and presence globally.
To officiate the name change, a signing ceremony of the Supplementary Agreement was held between the Asian-African Legal Consultative Organisation (AALCO) and the Government of Malaysia with the Director of KLRCA, Datuk Professor Sundra Rajoo. The Agreement was signed by Minister in the Prime Minister’s Department in charge of Legal Affairs Dato’ Sri Azalina Othman Said, alongside His Excellency Professor Kennedy Gastorn, Secretary-General of the AALCO.
Present at the ceremony were Attorney General of Malaysia and Chairman of KLRCA Advisory Board Tan Sri Dato' Sri Haji Mohamed Apandi bin Haji Ali and former Secretary-General of AALCO YBhg. Prof. Dato' Dr. Rahmat Mohamad, who witnessed the signing.
Established in 1978, the KLRCA was the first arbitration centre in Asia to be instituted under AALCO, an international organisation comprising 47 member states from across the region. The Centre was set up to provide institutional support as an independent and neutral venue for arbitration proceedings in Asia.
Currently, the KLRCA stands alongside only four other regional centres, located in Egypt, Nigeria, Iran and Kenya.
Since its inception, KLRCA has evolved into a global hub for Alternative Dispute Resolution (ADR), and is further expanding into holistic dispute management and dispute avoidance. Over the past four decades, KLRCA has built itself from the ground up, recording 932 cases in 2017, starting with only 22 in 2010. The Centre has entered into 50 strategic partnerships with local and international organisations, and conducted over 350 capacity building events for more than 12,000 participants thus far.
“We have experienced immense growth since we first started, and I am excited to see what the future holds. Innovation is a key pillar of the Centre – we are constantly improving, evolving, and upgrading ourselves to reflect the changing needs of the industry. As such, our rebranding is a timely exercise that not only commemorates our heritage, but mirrors the vision that we have moving forward”, said Datuk Professor Sundra Rajoo, Director of the newly rebranded AIAC.
Amongst the Centre’s achievements include the award-winning i-Arbitration Rules 2017 (Islamic Arbitration Rules), a first-of-its-kind product which provides a reliable legal framework for solving contractual disputes involving Shariah principles. The Centre also made history as the world’s first arbitral centre to launch its own suite of building contracts, which aimed at addressing the prevalent issues plaguing the construction industry in Malaysia. A pioneer in the sporting arena, the Centre also made history recently with the appointment of Datuk Professor Sundra Rajoo as the first Malaysian into the FIFA Ethics Committee.
