Name of arbitrator:

Hicham Zegrary

Education, recognition:

Education:

• Masters, Ecole Nationale d’Administration (ENA), Paris
• Masters, Public Affairs, Paris Dauphine University, Paris

Recognition:

Chairman of the Organizing Committee of Casablanca Arbitration Days

Countries qualified to practice:

N/A

Language(s):

• French
• English
• Arabic

Name of institution:

Casablanca International Mediation and Arbitration Centre (CIMAC)

Area(s) of specialisation:

Intellectual Property; International Law; Public Law; Business Administration; Public Affairs

Institutional affiliation(s):

• Casablanca International Mediation and Arbitration Centre (CIMAC)
• Member of ENA Alumni Association
• Member, ICCA
• Member, Association Droit et Commerce

Please provide a brief background of yourself and your experience working on disputes in Africa?

I began my professional career in February 2002 as an in-house counsel for Microsoft North Africa Intellectual Property Department, dealing mainly with compliance legal issues (counterfeiting, licenses agreement etc…). In October 2004, I later joined the General Inspection of Finance (Ministry of Economy and Finances of Morocco) which is in charge of auditing projects funded by international financial organizations and auditing the management of state-owned companies and departmental corporations. I am currently the Secretary General of Casablanca Finance City, the first African financial centre I joined in 2010. The above-mentioned experiences gave me a bird-eye view about the kind of disputes, institutions, private companies and state-owned entities may be facing.

CIMAC, I am humbled to serve as Secretary General since 2016 and I constantly aim at providing the continent with a fair, cost-efficient and reliable dispute resolution body.

What do you consider as the biggest challenge facing practitioners working on disputes in Africa? How do you think this challenge can be tackled?

Assuming and convinced that African dispute resolution practitioners are qualified and competent as their European, American counterparts, they are facing sometimes from my point of view, a lack of recognition. Initiatives such as the African Arbitration Academy are appropriate to shed the light on those talents.

Drawing from your experience as the Secretary General of Casablanca International Mediation & Arbitration Centre (CIMAC), how do you think arbitral institutions in Africa can be better equipped to administer international arbitration disputes?

I usually recommend African States to mandate the selection of an Africa-based dispute resolution body in the agreements they are parties to. Once this is done, legislations should be amended, if necessary, to reflect the international best practices. Finally comes the infrastructure issues, attracting international disputes requires an arbitration centre to be well equipped with cutting-edge technological services. For this purpose, continental but also regional efforts are welcome in this respect.

Many commendations have followed the Nigeria-Morocco Bilateral Investment Treaty (BIT). What are the innovative provisions in the BIT that make it different from other Intra-Africa BITs?

The BIT has been praised because it departs from the traditional patterns one can observe in African BITs. It is an African answer to an international debate related to the necessary balance of rights and duties between States and investors. Both Morocco and Nigeria recognized the needs to emphasize the corporate social responsibilities as well the criminal responsibilities of investors – legal and physical persons.

Its innovative dispute resolution mechanism, inspired in some instances by the Brazilian Model BIT, is appropriate for both mediation and arbitration. To make it more effective, I will suggest both countries ratify the Singapore Convention. African policymakers should not shy away with adopting this BIT in their negotiation.

With more African states acceding to the New York Convention, what are your thoughts on the enforcement trends in Morocco?

In the last two decades, the arbitration community in Morocco voiced its concern about the adversarial process of arbitral awards’ enforcement – arising from the case law – requiring parties to be heard before the court. The new mediation and arbitration bill is expected to remove this barrier. In any case in Morocco, the percentage of enforcement of both domestic and foreign arbitral awards is very high.

What advice do you have for young practitioners who are interested in developing a career in arbitration?

A quite simple mantra: Networking-Publishing-Mentoring!