Edinburgh looks for £2m boost from international arbitration congress win

Edinburgh has won its bid to host the biennial International Council for Commercial Arbitration (ICCA) Congress 2020. The conference, involving 1,200 delegates, will be hosted in the Edinburgh International Conference Centre (EICC) and is expected to provide a £2m boost to the local economy. The bidding team, led by a partnership comprising the Scottish Arbitration Centre, the EICC, Convention Edinburgh, Conference Partners and VisitScotland, beat off competition from Copenhagen, Stockholm, Vienna, St Petersburg, Vancouver and Mexico City. The bid process was also supported by the UK Prime Minister, Scotland’s First Minister and representatives of the national and international arbitration and legal communities. The VisitScotland Conference Bid Fund, again, played a key role in the bidding process. The ICCA’s 2020 Congress is the world’s largest conference devoted to international arbitration. Its activities include convening international arbitration congresses and conferences, sponsoring authoritative dispute resolution publications, and promoting the harmonisation of arbitration and conciliation rules, laws and practices. ICCA president, Donald Donovan, said: “We are delighted to be going to Edinburgh in 2020, and congratulate the bid committee on having prevailed in the face of stiff competition from a strong field of bidders. After recent ICCA Congresses held in Rio, Singapore and Miami, this year’s event in Mauritius, and a 2018 Congress scheduled for Sydney, ICCA looks forward to bringing the [biennial] Congress to Europe in 2020.” Andrew Mackenzie, chief executive of the Scottish Arbitration Centre, said his association was looking forward to showing the international arbitration community what Scotland had to offer. “We are confident that this conference will put Edinburgh firmly on the map as venue and a seat of international arbitration.” Nicola McGrane, MD at the Conference Partners international PCO added that the partnership working with the bid partners throughout the bid process was crucial to the success of bringing ICCA 2020 to Edinburgh. “We believe this team approach has been reflected in our success and highlights the warm welcome delegates will experience in Edinburgh in 2020.”