Bahrain has reaffirmed its commitment to becoming a regional and global hub for international commercial justice.
Supreme Judicial Council chairman and Cassation Court president Chief Justice Shaikh Khalid bin Ali Al Khalifa outlined an ambitious vision for the future of transnational dispute resolution yesterday.
He was speaking on the final day of the King Hamad Forum for Justice, held under the patronage of His Majesty King Hamad at The Ritz-Carlton, Bahrain.
Shaikh Khalid said Bahrain’s judiciary is determined to position the kingdom at the forefront of international commercial adjudication through a model rooted in independence, innovation and global collaboration.
The event brought together some of the world’s leading judicial and legal figures, including Singapore’s Chief Justice Sundaresh Menon, Bahrain International Commercial Court (BICC) president Professor Jan Paulsson, UK arbitrator Professor Joan Donoghue, Singapore’s Senior Minister of State for Law Murali Pillai, Singapore International Commercial Court (SICC) president Justice Philip Jeyaretnam, Caribbean Court of Justice Judge Chile Eboe-Osuji, and Bahrain Council for International Dispute Resolution secretary-general Marike Patrani Paulsson.
Shaikh Khalid emphasised that Bahrain’s approach to international commercial justice was both deliberate and forward-looking.
He highlighted two key pillars underpinning the kingdom’s judicial architecture – the Bahrain Chamber for Dispute Resolution (BCDR) and the BICC – together forming what he called “the Bahrain bundle”.
“These institutions serve one goal: To make Bahrain a trusted home for transnational commercial justice in the region and beyond,” he said.
A central reform has been the adoption of English as an official language of court proceedings and judgments, alongside Arabic. Fully implemented in 2023, this milestone has allowed Bahrain’s judiciary “to speak the language of global commerce”, reinforcing its international credibility and accessibility.
“By bridging languages, systems, and traditions, Bahrain affirms that justice can be both local in integrity and global in reach,” said Shaikh Khalid.
He underscored that the international commercial courts were not designed to compete with arbitration but to complement it.
“Together, they provide parties with a choice – confidentiality where it matters, and transparency where it builds trust.”
He described the BICC as a bridge connecting the region’s commercial vitality with the reliability global investors demand, adding that collaboration with international counterparts was key to strengthening transnational justice.
“We are proud to see Singapore as a partner with Bahrain in making this promise a reality,” he said, praising the SICC for setting a global benchmark in procedural innovation and judicial quality.
Bahrain “intends to walk with Singapore side by side”, sharing best practices and shaping a co-operative judicial future.
Shaikh Khalid further envisioned a “global judicial commons”, a collaborative ecosystem where courts worldwide contribute to the evolution of commercial jurisprudence.
“When judges across jurisdictions learn from one another’s commercial reasoning,” he noted, “a quiet form of global governance takes shape – one built not on treaties or politics, but on reasoning, fairness and mutual respect.”
He urged greater co-operation among courts, arbitral institutions and regulators to harmonise standards, promote mutual recognition of judgements, and advance best practices in technology, ethics and case management.
Shaikh Khalid reflected on Bahrain’s long-standing commitment to the rule of law as a foundation for sustainable economic growth.
“In today’s interconnected world,” he said, “investment flows not to the richest markets, but to the most reliable ones.
“The BICC is Bahrain’s promise that the rule of law will always remain our strongest currency.”
He called on the global legal community to see Bahrain not only as a financial centre, but as “a jurisdiction of trust – where the future of international justice is being written, one judgment at a time.”
mohammed@gdnmedia.bh
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