CIArb European Branch expands service with two new chapters: Spanish and Russian

Who said 2020 was a year where little was happening? Certainly not anyone amongst our European members as we are all thrilled about the new expansion of our Branch towards East and South. After the creation of a new Chapter in 2019 in Italy, where our annual gathering was to take place last Spring in Venice, two new entities have now been established, after the Board of Trustees’ recent approval.

In Spain, the new Chapter was finally formed, led by its new Chair Antonio Amusategui Batalla MCIArb, a prominent practitioner in Madrid. Surrounded by many CIArb members and fellows and helped by Alberto Fortún Costea FCIArb and Nazareth Romero MCIArb, he managed to gather an already existing and active community in Spain. Many training projects are already under way and promise to meet the CIArb’s highest expectations.

Equally ambitious and relying on a group of people already vigorous on the ground, the Russian Chapter has also become a reality, thanks to the relentless efforts and determination of its new Chair, Natalia Gulyaeva FCIArb, and many others in Moscow, especially Konstantin Kroll MCIArb and Andrey Panov FCIArb. As in Spain, the new Chapter’s ambitions are thrilling there, where projects are already on the move. The Russian Chapter will help the Institute make a link between Europe and Asia. After all, the CIArb is also a cement to build bridges across the continents.

With the formation of our 2 new chapters, the Branch’s ambition to expand the outreach of the CIArb has never been so vivid. The Institute aims indeed to show the arbitration community remains large but also solid as a block in times of drawbacks and doubts. With 7 Chapters all together (https://ciarb.org/our-network/europe/europe/chapters/), the European Branch remains one of the vastest within the Institute, with Chapters remaining close to all of its members on the ground, despite the immensity of the continent it covers.

Congratulations to Natalia and Antonio: we are confident the Spanish and Russian Chapters will quickly rise and make the CIArb shine broader and stronger.

Dr. Jalal El Ahdab MCIArb, Chair of CIArb European Branch