The Kigali International Arbitration Centre (KIAC), yesterday, brought the curtains down on its Alternative Dispute Resolution Project (ADRP), which has been implemented over the past two years.

The project, worth $2.9m (over Rwf210m), was jointly sponsored by the Investment Climate Facility for Africa (ICF), the Government, and Private Sector Federation (PSF) to help KIAC to develop and promote alternative dispute resolutions in the country.

The project had been designed to help KIAC grow into a leading choice for arbitration in Africa, and Bernadette Uwicyeza, the body’s secretary general told stakeholders that the project has helped steer them closer to realising that objective.

"The development of arbitration and other alternative dispute resolution mechanisms takes a considerable period of time; we are very proud that within just a few years, KIAC is recognised as a regional centre of choice of arbitration,” said Uwicyeza.

She attributed the centre’s success to strong support from its partners, ‘who have created the right environment for ADRP to flourish.’

The centre, which started off being hosted in PSF’s headquarters in Gikondo, Kigali, has since acquired its own premises in Nyarutarama, an uptown suburb of Gasabo District.

Hubert Hourizene, the ICF project director, said he was happy with the contribution from his institution in helping KIAC to operationalise its activities in Rwanda.

"This complements the efforts of ICF and the Government of Rwanda in easing access to commercial justice which started seven years ago with the modernisation of and establishment of commercial courts,” said Hourizene.

Before KIAC’s establishment, there was no formal mechanism for amicable dispute resolution in Rwanda and the Centre was also the first of its kind to be established in the East African region, according to officials.

Thierry Ngoga Gakuba, the ADRP director, said the overall objective of the project was to support the operationalisation of KIAC and establishing a pool of professionals in arbitration and other alternative dispute resolution mechanisms.

"So far, 28 cases have been administered under KIAC, which is a direct outcome of the project. We consider the cases a major milestone since it usually takes any newly-established (mechanism) much longer to register such success,” said Gakuba.

The project also enabled KIAC to train and certify 276 arbitrators by the UK-based Chartered Institute of Arbitrators.

Gakuba added that KIAC trained 40 professionals in commercial mediation skills, 31 of whom are now accredited mediators by the body for effective dispute resolution.

In order to meet the increasing demand for using adjudication in the construction industry, KIAC, in partnership with the Kuala Lumpur Regional Centre for Arbitration (KLRCA), reportedly also trained 53 professionals.

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