The arbitration institute, the mediation institute are already operating in our country. And yes, the government will make continued efforts to ensure that these institutes succeed as mechanisms for alternative dispute resolution. And the reason for this is that we want to have a good environment and predictable dispute resolution in order to interest all those people who are going to invest, or are making investments in the Republic of Armenia, to come and eventually make those investments. This was stated by the Minister of Justice of Armenia, Srbuhi Galyan, while speaking with reporters today, within the framework of the Third Annual Armenian International Arbitration Week.

“We also have another objective: to relieve the judicial workload in various instances and courts that currently exists [in Armenia],” she added.

Referring to whether Armenia will comply with the international arbitration decision in the case involving Russian Armenian entrepreneur and philanthropist Samvel Karapetyan, owner of the Electric Networks of Armenia company—and who is currently jailed in Yerevan, Galyan said: “If we are talking about international arbitration and compliance or non-compliance with the disputes it has made, I should note the following. There is the New York Convention, to which we [i.e. Armenia] are a party. And the New York Convention defines the case when a state does not voluntarily comply with the arbitration decision; and in that case, it must or can be enforced. The mechanism for enforcement, as I have mentioned before, is the execution of the relevant arbitration decision based on a court decision.”

“We currently have the following reality: International arbitration has made a decision, in essence, to apply security for the claim, which is currently not being implemented by the [Armenian] government with the voluntary option, and there is a mechanism for this to be implemented forcibly. And there is a mechanism for not implementing it if the courts decide that this decision contradicts public policy. I say regulations that are in place, that exist in relevant international legal acts and in our domestic legal acts,” added the minister.

“I would not like to comment too much on the relevant arbitration decision. But that decision refers to our legislative act which was implemented by Armenia. That is, the Republic of Armenia has acted within the framework of the law, and the arbitration decision stipulates that we should not apply our domestic legislation. Sorry, this is our state, and we say that our state is legal. A legal state must follow the legal regulations that exist, are in force, and are constitutional, unless the opposite is substantiated and the arbitration decision contradicts it,” the Armenian justice minister emphasized.