Casablanca Finance City Works In Support Of Judicial Reform In Morocco

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May 23, 2012, 06:26 ET

CASABLANCA, May 23, 2012 /PRNewswire/ --

This month Morocco began its judicial reform process with the establishment of the high commission for comprehensive and profound judicial reform. This body, made up of 40 representatives with judicial, legislative and academic backgrounds, has now commenced work and will undertake a complete review of the Moroccan judicial system.

The high commission's primary focus will be to develop a national charter that protects individual and collective rights and freedoms and sets down operating rules, ensuring the complete independence of the judiciary and determining safeguards that will build confidence in the system.

The Moroccan Financial Board and Casablanca Finance City is playing its part in the reform process and is working in partnership with the Ministry of Justice to develop best in class legal regulation and arbitration in Morocco for the investor community.

It is vital that investors looking to access growth opportunities in Africa have a secure and stable platform from which to do so. Casablanca Finance City, the Greater North West African region's new financial hub, is committed to developing legal and financial regulation that is fully aligned with international standards to facilitate the flow of investment into Africa.

In April Casablanca Finance City held a high-profile international arbitration conference, focusing on the legal, practical and procedural issues involved in conducting litigation. The conference discussed the issues arising in international litigation, including issues such as jurisdiction, choice of law and the role of international judicial assistance in dispute resolution.

The various panels focused on how to prevent and manage disputes in investment and trading activities, and the benefits of arbitration in Morocco as a means of dispute resolution.

Casablanca Finance City's event assembled internationally respected professionals from the legal world to speak on its panels, including Mr Michael Black QC (Advocate, Arbitrator & Mediator, XXIV Old Buildings Barristers' Chambers London and Geneva); Mr Neil Kaplan, CBE, QC (International Arbitrator based in Hong Kong); and Mr Alvin Yeo, Senior Counsel (Member of the Council of Advisors of the Singapore International Arbitration Centre).

Following the event Mr Said Ibrahimi, Chief Executive of Moroccan Financial Board and Casablanca Finance City, signed an agreement with Mr. El Mostafa Ramid, Minister of Justice, who was also present, to collaborate further to strengthen Morocco's arbitration capabilities.

Notes to editors

About the Moroccan Financial Board

The Moroccan Financial Board, a company made up of a public-private partnership between significant figures of the financial sector, is responsible under the law 44-10 relative to 'CFC Status' for the global running and institutional promotion of Casablanca Finance City. Casablanca Finance City aims to make Casablanca a regional hub of the financial profession and a preferential gateway to African countries, in particular to the countries of North, West and Central Africa.

http://www.mfboard.com

SOURCE Casablanca Finance City