International investment dispute body to set up office in Singapore

SINGAPORE: The International Centre for Settlement of Investment Disputes (ICSID) will set up its first staffed office outside the United States in Singapore. 

Minister for Law Edwin Tong announced a letter of intent had been signed on Monday (Aug 25) to formalise the office's establishment, hailing it as a “significant milestone”.

One of the five World Bank Group organisations, ICSID serves as a forum for investor-state dispute settlement in most international investment treaties and in many investment laws and contracts. 

Its setup in Singapore will be its first staffed office outside of its headquarters in Washington. It will also make Singapore the first country to have the local offices of all five World Bank Group organisations, said Mr Tong. 

“The ICSID Singapore Office will serve as a regional hub, to allow the ICSID to better serve the region’s needs in investment dispute prevention, resolution and education,” said the law minister. 

"We warmly welcome ICSID to Singapore, which will undoubtedly strengthen Singapore’s service offerings as a hub for international dispute resolution and thought leadership."

Mr Tong credited this development to the “dedicated efforts” of teams from the Ministry of Law (MinLaw) and ICSID. 

The minister said he visited ICSID’s office in Washington in June 2024, where he met its secretary-general, Martina Polasek, and signed a memorandum of understanding to register mutual interest in establishing the Singapore office. 

“In the subsequent months, the respective teams worked hard on the key details to bring this milestone to fruition,” said Mr Tong. 

He added that Ms Polasek and other key ICSID and World Bank officers had been hosted at a lunch on Monday to commemorate the occasion. 

“They had many interesting ideas, underpinned by a strong values system,” said Mr Tong. 

“As we exchanged ideas and thinking, it was clear that the foundations of Singapore’s collaboration with ICSID will rest on principles of multilateralism, people-centred policies and a firm commitment to the rule of law.”

The four World Bank Group organisations with offices currently located in Singapore are: the International Bank for Reconstruction and Development, the International Development Association, the International Finance Corporation, and the Multilateral Investment Guarantee Agency.

The ICSID office will be based at the World Bank Group Singapore Office at 10 Marina Boulevard, joining the other four World Bank Group organisations, said MinLaw and ICSID in a joint press release on Tuesday.

The organisation will maintain satellite premises at Maxwell Chambers Suites, the world’s first integrated dispute resolution complex that houses hearing facilities, international dispute resolution institutions, law firms, arbitration chambers and ancillary services, they added. 

Singapore became a contracting ICSID member state in 1968 and has designated lawyers, arbitrators and mediators to the organisation's arbitrator and conciliator panels.