Commercial parties willing to travel for neutral justice: Singapore Chief Justice Sundaresh Menon at launch of BICC

At the launch of the Bahrain International Commercial Court (BICC), Chief Justice of Singapore Sundaresh Menon on Wednesday said that the rise of cross-border commerce has created a strong need for dispute resolution systems that deliver neutral justice.

Justice Menon said that global commercial actors are now “increasingly willing to travel in search of neutral and trusted dispute resolution mechanisms that can deliver fair processes and sensible outcomes.”

He emphasised that modern parties often choose governing laws with no territorial connection to them, simply because these offer predictability and certainty.

“What these trends show is that commercial parties increasingly demand neutral justice that fairly serves their needs,” he said.

The BICC was launched on Wednesday, positioning Bahrain as a new hub for cross-border dispute resolution. The event was inaugurated by Bahrain’s Crown Prince and Prime Minister Prince Salman bin Hamad Al Khalifa.

Justice Menon explained that neutral justice rests on three pillars:

(1) Geographical neutrality — openness to parties regardless of domicile;
(2) Institutional neutrality — detachment from purely domestic legal structures;
(3) Procedural neutrality — willingness to adopt international best practices even if they depart from traditional forms.

International commercial courts like the BICC, he said, embody these attributes because they can offer a forum “in which no party enjoys a home-court advantage,” while deploying flexible procedures and foreign judicial expertise.

Justice Menon highlighted that the BICC is being developed in partnership with the Singapore International Commercial Court (SICC) and that a new international committee of the SICC would be able to hear certain appeals from the BICC.

He described the committee, composed of SICC judges and ad-hoc BICC judges, as a “groundbreaking development” capable of strengthening transnational commercial law.

Unlike arbitral tribunals which are temporary, international commercial courts are permanent institutions with the capacity “to strengthen the system of transnational commercial justice by working together,” Justice Menon observed.

Such a network, he said, should be supported by:

• A matrix of laws enabling cross-border dispute resolution

• An independent judiciary

• Commercially skilled lawyers

• A commitment to thought leadership

He added that the BICC satisfies these criteria, pointing to a multinational bench led by President Jan Paulson and Deputy President Sir Christopher Greenwood KC. He also highlighted the Centre's openness to foreign counsel, foreign law and English-language proceedings.

Justice Menon said that the BICC builds on Bahrain’s history as “the pearl of the Gulf,” noting that the country’s strategic location and recent steps - including accession to the Singapore Convention on Mediation and an agreement with the Permanent Court of Arbitration - demonstrate its commitment to building an international justice infrastructure.

In his address, Bahrain’s Crown Prince and Prime Minister Prince Salman bin Hamad Al Khalifa said that the BICC is built on the conviction that justice and prosperity are mutually reinforcing.

“The rule of law is not a brake on economic growth. It is its engine,” he said.

He noted that some view law and commerce as being in tension, but experience shows that “trade does not flow where contracts are uncertain. Investment does not endure where law is unpredictable.”

Prince Salman stressed that strong, independent institutions are essential to earning commercial trust:

“This Court will operate as an independent body… justice here will be seen to be fair and impartial and rooted in principle.”

The Crown Prince said that as the global economy becomes digital, fast-moving and interconnected, courts must evolve in step. The BICC, he said, has been designed to deliver justice with the speed of modern business, serving regional and international enterprises “with efficiency and transparency.”

He added that Bahrain’s long history as a crossroads of trade makes the launch of BICC a natural continuation of its commercial legacy.

“Trust was the currency of exchange…this court is a continuation of that story,” he observed

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