"UN Convention on contracts for international sale of goods will benefit Bangladesh"

Bangladesh will greatly benefit from adopting the UN Convention on Contracts for the International Sale of Goods (CISG) as it provides a uniform regime for out of court dispute settlement for the international sale of goods.

Mahbubur Rahman, board chairman of Bangladesh International Arbitration Centre (BIAC) and president of International Chamber of Commerce-Bangladesh, said this while speaking at a webinar on "Alternative Dispute Resolution and International Sale of Goods: Time to Benefit from CISG?"

The BIAC and the United Nations Commission on International Trade Law (UNCITRAL) - Regional Centre for Asia and the Pacific (RCAP) jointly organised the event on Thursday.

Addressing the programme, Kaiser A Chowdhury, chief executive officer of BIAC said hosting such a webinar should lead us to take the initiative to establish an efficient framework for dispute resolution and work to ensure that the government considers this Convention to improve supply chain management efficiency and boost the usage of alternative dispute resolution (ADR).

Athita Komindr, head of UNCITRAL RCAP, provided an overview of her organisation's mandate on furthering the progressive harmonisation and modernisation of international trade and commercial law and how the UNCITRAL RCAP promotes the mandate to public and private stakeholders in the approximately 60 jurisdictions that it serves.

Luca Castellani, legal officer of UNCITRAL RCAP, discussed the basic features of the CISG, stressing its flexibility and ability to adjust to supervening circumstances.

Noting the economic importance of the export of manufactured goods, he invited Bangladesh to consider the adoption of the Convention to increase governance and legal predictability in cross-border supply chains and to reduce transaction costs.

Sherlin Tung, partner of Withersworldwide in Hong Kong, discussed the benefits of the CISG for commercial parties involved in international commercial transactions and gave insight on the situation of implementation of the CISG in Hong Kong.

She noted that the CISG, like arbitration, offers parties who enter into cross-border commercial transactions, a neutral law that is familiar to all parties involved as well as consistency and stability.

Md Ahsan Ullah, former executive director of Bangladesh Bank, said the CISG would help combat any situation arising out of International Trade Disruption and protect the interest of the parties.

He urged that Bangladesh should seriously consider becoming a signatory to the CISG Convention in order to gain the current and future benefits of the Convention, which will help boost foreign investment in particular and the country's economy in general.

Rizwan Rahman, President of Dhaka Chamber of Commerce and Industry, said, "Our international trade volume exceeds $100 billion within which the share of exports was  $45.39 billion in 2021 and with such growth, commercial disputes increased as well.

He stressed that Bangladesh is poised to graduate into a developing country by 2026 resulting in various changes and challenges in the international trade landscape.

Barrister Shafayat Ullah, head of Mutual Trust Bank Group Legal Affairs Division, said binding sale contracts may ensure the safety and security of the banks and traders with the inclusion of the Arbitration Clause and Compensation Clause.

Shah Md Ahsan Habib, professor of Bangladesh Institute of Bank Management (BIBM), who moderated the webinar, said the Contract Act 1872 should be amended and upgraded in line with CISG and UNIDROIT provisions to expand exports and also protect local traders from risks.

Bangla daily Bonik Barta was the media partner of the event.