emirates7 - The Abu Dhabi CAS Alternative Hearing Centre has signed a cooperation agreement with the Emirates Sports Arbitration Centre to develop the sports dispute resolution mechanisms and promote the dissemination of the arbitration culture.

This is in addition to implementing the decisions rendered by either centre, training and qualifying sports arbitrators at the local and international levels, and qualifying lawyers to handle sports-related disputes.

The agreement is in context to a leading role played by both parties in sports arbitration. The Abu Dhabi CAS Alternative Hearing Centre within the Abu Dhabi Judicial Department hosts the hearings that the CAS decides to hold in the Emirate of Abu Dhabi under the agreement between the ADJD and the CAS in 2012. The Emirates Sports Arbitration Centre, which was established under Federal Law No. 16 of 2016, is exclusively competent to arbitrate all sports disputes, in particular those related to final decisions issued by the competent bodies and the Olympic Committee, under their statutes, disciplinary decisions and appealable decisions issued by the National Anti-Doping Committee.

In this regard, Youssef Saeed Al Abri, Under-Secretary of Abu Dhabi Judicial Department, said that the agreement supports the endeavour to develop the work at the CAS Alternative Hearing Centre, to strengthen its role and activities and achieve the ambition of making Abu Dhabi a regional and international hub for sports arbitration, in line with the vision of H.H. Sheikh Mansour bin Zayed Al Nahyan, Deputy Prime Minister, Minister of Presidential Affairs, and Chairman of Abu Dhabi Judicial Department, to achieve leadership and excellence in providing all services under the best international standards.

The agreement develops the mechanism for settling local sports disputes that have an international component while working on organising specialised workshops in this field and introducing the services provided in the arbitration centres with facilitated procedures in terms of registering sports cases and holding hearings to reach amicable solutions, in addition to providing logistical support for several activities and events related to the field of arbitration, Al Abri explained.

Ahmad Ibrahim Al Marzouqi, Executive Director of the Administrative Support Sector at the ADJD, stressed the importance of building a stronger partnership with the relevant authorities in the field of sports arbitration to contribute to the dissemination of the culture of arbitration and to encourage the use of the services available in the UAE, where all the necessary capacities and means of support are available to hold hearings for the settlement of international, regional and local sports disputes.

For his part, Dirar Belhoul Al Falasi, Vice President of the UAE Sports Arbitration Centre, noted the importance of creating partnerships with entities connected with sports arbitration, whether at the national level or the Arab and international levels, to serve the cause of UAE sport in all its aspects, stressing the leading role played in this regard by the centre and the judicial department. This agreement helps to achieve the desired integration through joint bilateral coordination to settle various sports disputes, he added.

Al Falasi also praised the efforts of the ADJD and the initiatives to promote the name of the UAE as a leading centre accredited by the Court of Arbitration for Sport (CAS), which contributes to consolidating the country's standing, reputation and honourable achievements at all levels.