US and China among first countries set to sign Singapore Convention on Mediation, will have to enforce the mediation agreements in court

July 30,2019:United States of America (USA) and China will be among the first countries to sign a convention on mediation that is named after Singapore.

US and China, are among 54 countries that will attend a signing ceremony for Singapore Convention for Mediation on Aug 7,2019.

The signatories include include Australia, Brunei, Japan, South Korea, Switzerland, Uganda and Vanuatu.

Treaty will make it easier to enforce mediation settlements across borders.

Home Affairs and Law Minister of Singapore, K. Shanmugam stated that,"These are large economies, they have very big investments overseas and I think they understand the significance of making sure that there are international rules based mechanisms for dealing with disputes."

Mediation Convention will apply only to commercial settlement agreements and countries that sign it will have to enforce the mediation agreements in court.

United Nations adopted it only six months ago, and it was very encouraging that "a good number" of countries have said they will sign it, he said.

For instance, New York Convention on the Recognition and Enforcement of Foreign Arbitral Awards attracted 10 signatories when it opened for signature in New York in 1958. By now, 160 countries have signed it.

Countries in the European Union are not attending the ceremony to be held at Shangri-La Hotel, and when asked about this, the minister said it was due to a process issue as the EU needed to determine if it has to sign the treaty as a whole or if its member countries can sign it individually.

For the Singapore Convention to come into force, at least three countries have to sign and ratify it.