It would be appropriate to begin by saying few words about the New York Convention for the Recognition and Enforcement of Foreign Arbitral Awards which came into being in 1948. By the way, our Civil Procedure Code was enacted in 1948 E.C; while the convention was passed in 1948 G.C. Now, simply put, it is a very popular convention in the international arbitration community and is used to enforce an arbitral award (both commercial and non-commercial) in another country.

The main point of this post is not to explain the nature of the convention, but to ask if Ethiopia’s initiation to accede to the convention is the right thing. Recently, the Ethiopian government is weighing pros and cons of approving the instrument. It is inviting legal professionals and major stakeholders to speak their concerns or forward their comments on the advantages or disadvantages of signing the New York Convention.