Workshop “Friendly resolution of investment disputes: Mediation and other methods”

On August 11, 2023, the Workshop “Friendly resolution of investment disputes: Mediation and other methods” was co-organized by Viet Nam Society of International Law and Foreign Trade University. The Workshop was a meaningful event within the framework of the competition of Foreign Direct Investment International Arbitration Moot 2023 (FDI Moot 2023), with the aim of creating a legal science forum for experts, scholars, researchers, law students or those who are interested in law to exchange, share, and discuss about the use of mediation and other friendly alternative methods in investment dispute resolution.

At the Workshop, Mr. Nguyen Hung Quang, Managing Partner of NHQuang&Associates, presented and discussed about the topic “Systemic Investor Response Mechanism (SIRM)”. Accordingly, SIRM is needed as a mechanism supporting state agencies to understand the obstacles and difficulties of investors during their investment process. There are 6 key elements of SIRM, including: (i) lead agency for aggregating and coordinating information on investors’ problems; (ii) information sharing; (iii) early alert mechanism and monitoring tools; (iv) problem solving methods; (v) political decision making; (vi) enforcement of a decision. In addition, according to Mr. Quang, Viet Nam currently does not have a mechanism to prevent investment disputes and a mechanism to handle investors’ problems in a clear and consistent manner. Viet Nam also does not have a unified database of investor problems for central state agencies to quickly intervene. Therefore, the development of SIRM is appropriate and necessary in the current context of Viet Nam.