Dialogue Solutions (Guyana Inc.) on Thursday launched its local operations, offering alternatives to the time-consuming settlement of litigation before the courts.
The Trinidad-based entity launched the Guyana operations at a virtual forum where Director of the local branch, attorney Nigel Hughes, noted that its services are not only welcomed but necessary because of the rapid increase in foreign and domestic investment.
Attorney General and Minister of Legal Affairs Anil Nandlall SC, who also attended the launch, said that government was fully committed to the initiative to cultivate confidence among international investors that Guyana is a competent gold-standard arbitration venue.
Underscoring the rigorous demands for international commerce, which requires ease of conducting business, Hughes in his opening remarks referenced a World Bank report for last year which he said indicated that the Carib-bean Region is not the best for this. “…We have to change that,” he said.
It usually takes some 581 days—equivalent to about a year and half—to resolve a dispute in the local courts, he noted, before adding that Guyana unfortunately scores only 57.9 out of 100 on the scale of enforcing a contract.
According to Hughes, the region has long been a destination capable of providing world-class experts in the areas of law, business, finance, engineering, construction and offshore investments. The time has come, he added, when the Caribbean has the ability to provide comparable world-class arbitration, expert determinations, dispute adjudication boards, mediation and neutral non-binding analysis services to the regional and international business community.
Hughes said it is with this vision that Dialogue Solutions Ltd offered to the Caribbean marketplace a world-class, high quality panel of experts who are available to provide professional dispute resolution services, which include arbitration, mediation, expert determination and neutral analysis services.
Former President of the Caribbean Court of Justice Sir Dennis Byron, who also gave remarks at the launch, described Dialogue Solutions as “a real asset in the dispute resolution framework for Guyana.”
He said it demonstrates the entity’s support for Regional cooperation in a much-needed area, while noting the value of Alter-native Dispute Resolution (ADR) services in improving the economic development and social welfare of Guyana.
Sir Dennis said it is an important supplement to the already-taxed court services. The vision of ADR, he noted, needs to have practical application for its implementation and he opined that the functions of Dialogue Solutions lends to the creation of such a structure and will contribute significantly to the array of ADR mechanisms.
Meanwhile, conveying what he said was President Irfaan Ali’s personal support for Dialogue Solutions (Guyana) Inc., Nandlall said its entry to Guyana’s legal and commercial architecture enjoys government’s full support and commitment.
Against this background, he said that government recognizes that there is a need to “reorganize, restructure, rebuild and modernize” the entire legal architecture to make it conducive for the “commercial transformation” and related social activities which attend the opportunities of the oil and gas sector.
On this point, he said that the government continues to work on bolstering the judicial system, but at the same time recognises that the new opportunities presenting themselves re-quire the expansion of the jurisprudential approach and method of resolving dispute.
He said that a mere glance at commercial contracts and the magnitude that are currently unfolding in Guyana lends to the inescapable conclusion that among the extractive industries—not only oil and gas—but including gold, diamond and timber, the preferred method of resolving disputes seem to be those outside of the conventional judicial process.
A different path
In recognition of this, Nandlall said that government has already started to prepare itself and the infrastructure necessary to have disputes resolved by virtue of “arbitration, mediation, conciliation and by employing restorative justice measures.”
In this regard, he noted that government has already hired a consultant, retired Justice Courtney Abel, who is an arbitration expert in the Caribbean working with a panel to build a similar framework, even as he stressed Guyana’s preparedness for the exigencies required to make an attractive destination for the settlement of disputes outside of the conventional judicial method.
The AG presented Guyana as a destination, not only for the settlements of disputes in Guyana, but the rest of the Caribbean and South America, while noting that a vast among amount of the contracts here all have the arbitration and mediation clauses which take the settlement of the dispute out of the Caribbean into North America and Europe.
“I don’t believe that there is any reason why we should continue along that path. I believe that we have sufficient talent in the Caribbean and we can create all the infrastructures requisite and necessary to ensure that there is effective, effectual, diligent and competent settlement of disputes as are available in other parts of the world,” the AG said.
He said that government is currently reviewing the existing international treaty arrangements as it relates to arbitration, while noting that Guyana will enter into all the new treaties available, to incorporate them into local jurisprudence, along with international best practices surrounding ADR mechanisms.
He said that the local laws, rules, practices and culture relevant to arbitration will also be reviewed and upgraded where needed to provide a portal which would enable disputants to manage their disputes by judicial officers and arbitrators of their choice.
Towrds this end, he said that there will be the establishment of an independent, impartial efficient, fair and just arbitration process.
He announced that training programmes will be conducted to establish and maintain high international standards of best arbitration practices to cultivate confidence in international investors, that Guyana is a competent gold-standard arbitration venue.
He said it is government’s aim to make Guy-ana a regional arbitration hub and the commercial gateway to South America from within the Caribbean, for the management and resolution of commercial disputes, particularly within the extractive industries.
Richard Sammy, General Manager, Cor-porate and Investment Banking, Republic Bank (Trinidad) Limited and former managing director of the bank here in Guyana, said in his address that the private sector has been using ADR to benefit from 50 to 60% financial savings and also time savings, in terms of executive time.
He said that considerable witness time for preparation of court matters and opportunity costs are also saved, and that it minimises uncertainty, while improving communication and maintains privacy, which he stressed is paramount for the culture in the region and in particular Guyana.
He said that there has been high success rates with the use of ADR, when compared to the traditional court litigation
Against this backdrop, he urged the business community here in Guyana to adopt ADR means and to incorporate it into the “DNA” of business activities here.
Also speaking at the launch was Senior Counsel Reginald Armour—a founding member and Chairman of Dialogue Solutions (Trinidad Ltd).
He said that with Guyana being an emerging centre of corporate endeavors in the region, due to its growing oil and gas industry, ADR methods are of great importance as the country navigates not only local but international commerce.
He said with conflict inevitable, there needs to be a means of amicable, progressive resolution in the form of ADR.
He said that good business understands conflict and resolution and the importance for parties to continue their commercial transactions and again explained why ADR would be so strategically needed in Guyana at this time to ensure that parties can amicably reengage towards ultimately “getting the work done.”
Dialogue Solutions (Guyana) counts Hughes and attorney Jed Vasconcellos as directors, while its two shareholders are Dialogue Solutions (Trinidad Ltd) and the Hughes, Fields & Stoby Corporate Services Inc.
