Winners of 3rd Annual IAC Central Asia Vis Pre-Moot Competition awarded in Astana
The competition was held at the premises of the International Arbitration Centre (IAC) in Astana during 10-15 March 2023. Over 100 students representing 20 teams from 16 countries participated in the competition with 8 teams from the CIS countries, including 2 teams from Kazakhstan, 6 teams from Europe, and 6 teams from Asia. Over 50 arbitrators and lawyers from leading international law firms and arbitration associations were involved in evaluating the skills of participants.
Thanks to the competition, law students got an opportunity to study international commercial law and arbitration for resolution of international business disputes.
«This afternoon in Astana, Kazakhstan at the IAC premises we held our grand final of the annual event the IAC Central Asia Vis Pre-Moot Competition for the finest law students, not just in Kazakhstan and a whole of Eurasia, but throughout the entire world. The idea was to train and develop the very best law students to participate in this globally recognized competition. We did this with the support of our partner for the last two years the CLDP from the United States,» Registrar and Chief Executive of AIFC Court Christopher Campbell-Holt said.
«It’s a global competition. It’s enormously important for Kazakhstan and this wider Eurasian region, but particularly Kazakhstan, because what it says to the rest of the world, to investors around the world that Astana at the AIFC and the IAC here is the hub for arbitration in Eurasia,» he said.
Christopher Campbell-Holt pointed out that the standard of the students was really first-class, adding that some of them came to Astana last year for the same competition. «Because of the one week of full-on training as arbitration council for this competition provided by our American partner, the standards of the students have dramatically improved from the very beginning until today’s final,» he said.
Held offline, this year’s grand final of the competition saw two teams from Uzbekistan (Tashkent State University of Law) and Pakistan (National University of Sciences and Technology) vying for the top award. The judging panel at the grand final consisted of IAC Chairman Thomas Krümmel, first IAC Chairman Barbara Dohmann KC and White and Case Association Ivan Phillipov.
Samandarbek Norboev and Yuldyz Abdusolikhova of Tashkent State University of Law ended up winning the top award.
Christopher Campbell-Holt praised their professionalism and skills.
«The subject matter of the dispute was a commercial dispute which has been taken specifically from Vienna. It’s a top modern commercial dispute. It required the assimilation of enormous amounts of materials and facts and law and the application of those facts and law and advocacy skills as arbitration council. It’s truly world-class way for the students to gain very best knowledge and skills to be world leading arbitration council,» he said, adding that there are plans to hold the competition for next 10 or more years to really bring the very best international standards of arbitration council skills to lawyers specifically in Kazakhstan, law students in Kazakhstan, but also for the entire Eurasian region.
This is the second consecutive year the IAC Central Asia Vis Pre-Moot Competition is held with the support of the U.S. State Department of Commerce and Commercial Law Development Program (CLDP). Together the IAC and CLDP provide international standard arbitration moot training to law students from across Central Asia and CIS countries.