Opening the inaugural Singapore International Arbitration Forum, Law Minister K Shanmugam said Singapore has concentrated on building the essentials for developing the Republic as an important arbitration centre.
International arbitration has experienced remarkable growth in recent years, he said. Much of the growth has taken place in Asia, and Singapore has benefited from it.
He said: "International law firms have taken note of these developments and have found Singapore an attractive location to build their bases. Since 2006, the number of foreign law firms in Singapore has more than doubled to more than 100 law firms today.
"Law firms already in Singapore continued to expand their offices here, with some bringing in specialist partners to their Singapore offices and starting new practice areas here, including arbitration, energy and aviation."
Mr Shanmugam said Singapore has ensured that the legislative framework here is supportive of arbitration and has adopted international best practices.
He added: "Parties who arbitrate in Singapore are free to engage lawyers of any nationality and use any governing law, not just Singapore-qualified lawyers or Singapore law. Income earned by foreign arbitrators is exempted from tax, and there is a tax incentive scheme for arbitration work for law firms."
Furthermore, the Singapore courts have also been consistent in supporting the finality of an award from an arbitration hearing.
He said recent cases in Singapore's courts have demonstrated that it would be extremely unlikely to find any exceptional circumstance that allowed for awards from an arbitration to be set aside.
Singapore is also now home to the world's first integrated dispute resolution centre for international arbitration cases. Called the Maxwell Chambers , it has already heard sixty cases involving arbitration since last July.
Mr Shanmugam said: "It is the world's first integrated dispute resolution centre and houses state-of-the-art facilities. Its tenants include the Permanent Court of Arbitration, the American Arbitration Association, the International Court of Arbitration of the International Chamber of Commerce and the Arbitration and Mediation Centre of the World Intellectual Property Organization.
"This evening, the International Centre for the Settlement of Investment Disputes will also be signing an agreement to set up an office in Maxwell Chambers ."
Chairman of Maxwell Chambers , Senior Counsel Chelva Rajah, said what Singapore had missed in the past was a first class venue for holding international arbitration hearings. The missing piece has now been put in place with the new Maxwell Chambers .
Mr Chelva Rajah added that besides having best-of-class hearing facilities, many professionals have also chosen to co-locate with the Maxwell Chambers .
He explained: "The arbitration community also needs to cater to new growth areas in international arbitration, like the rising incidence of investor-state arbitrations resulting from the proliferation of bilateral and multi-lateral investment treaties and free trade agreements.
"We must do so to ensure that international arbitration remains relevant and dynamic in these changing times."
The Singapore International Arbitration Centre has also grown from strength to strength from handling just 58 cases in 2000 to 160 cases last year.
Mr Shanmugam explained: "These statistics relate purely to arbitration cases and do not include cases involving domain name disputes and mediation. It also does not include cases where only SIAC's facilities were used for dispute resolution.
"It is difficult to compare with different centres in Asia because of different yardsticks used - for example, some include domain name disputes and cases where only their facilities were used.
"But, I think it is fair to say that SIAC has in the last few years emerged as a leading centre, if not the leading centre in Asia administering international arbitrations."
The two-day international arbitration forum is being attended by some 300 experts and practitioners in the field. - CNA/vm
