The President of the Republic of Mauritius, Mr Prithvirajsing Roopun, met with the Secretary-General of the Permanent Court of Arbitration (PCA), Dr Hab. Marcin Czepelak, today, at the State House in Réduit.
The Secretary-General was accompanied by the PCA Representative in Mauritius, Ms Andrea Lapunzina Veronelli, and Legal Counsels from the PCA, Mses Clémence Assou and Balla Galma Godana. Dr Hab. Marcin Czepelak was elected on 14 February 2022, at the 206th meeting of the PCA Administrative Council, for a five-year term, as Secretary-General. He was previously the Ambassador Extraordinary and Plenipotentiary of the Republic of Poland to the Kingdom of the Netherlands and the Permanent Representative of the Republic of Poland to the Organisation for the Prohibition of Chemical Weapons.
In a statement following the meeting, Dr Czepelak affirmed that discussions with President Roopun focused on the fruitful cooperation between the PCA and Mauritius. He recalled that the PCA, created in 1899 in The Hague, was the oldest tribunal in existence, and had multiple international offices worldwide, including its very first international office established in Mauritius in 2010. The principal activities of the PCA Mauritius Office are the provision of services in arbitral proceedings, capacity-building, and promotional activities.
The Secretary-General informed that the current PCA Representative in Mauritius, Ms Andrea Lapunzina Veronelli, would soon complete her tour of duty and would be succeeded by Ms Balla Galma Godana. While asking support for Ms Godana, Dr Czepelak thanked Mauritius for being the hosting nation and for assisting Ms Veronelli.
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The President of the Republic was also briefed on the PCA activities and projects in collaboration with the Mauritius International Arbitration Centre. The challenges to the international peace and security was mentioned as well as Dr Czepelak reminded that the goal of the PCA was to support international peace through justice.
The crucial role played by the Judiciary in ensuring and safeguarding the integrity of the arbitration process was highlighted, too, by Dr Czepelak. "The role of the Judiciary and the rule of law are fundamentals for the development of arbitration, and on the other hand, arbitration is a complementary path of solving dispute to judiciary, as it is recognised in almost all legal systems," he stressed.
According to the Secretary-General, the PCA was an organisation, specialising in various means of dispute resolution, but first and foremost arbitration. He underlined that the Attorney General's Office worked together with the PCA on a daily basis and that the PCA, with the Republic of Mauritius, developed and promoted arbitration in the region.
Furthermore, Dr Czepelak said that the PCA considered Mauritius as a venue for arbitration for cases from Africa and Asia. He added that in order to have this kind of venue, many requirements needed to be fulfilled so as to have an arbitration friendly ecosystem.
The PCA was established by treaty in 1899 to facilitate arbitration and other forms of dispute resolution between States. It provides a variety of dispute resolution services to the international community. The Republic of Mauritius is among the 122 Contracting Parties, since 3 August 1970.
