The Chamber of Trade and Industry (CTI) of Moldova aimed to become the partner of the institutions that do reforms to contribute to the improvement of justice in the country, the Chamber’s chairman Valeriu Lazar said in the event held to launch the Medication Center under the CTI on December 1. According to him, the Chamber’s members want justice in Moldova to be good in general, but mainly from the perspective of economic entities. These enter different economic relations and disputes between them can appear. The traditional method of settling an argument or a disagreement, by court, entails time and a lot of money.
“The arbitration under the CTI is an alternative dispute resolution method. More than 100 disputes have been settled by arbitration this year. The appearance of disputes and divergences is typical of economies in transition that face problems, like Moldova’s economy. Today, with the support of the partners, we launch an alternative dispute resolution instrument– mediation,” stated Lazar, adding that the Mediation Center will also be a Center of Excellence that will provide solutions to disputes and will also work out different methodologies needed in mediation.
He thanked the partners that helped open the Mediation Center, namely the UK Center for Effective Dispute Resolution, which provided permanent consultative assistance, the EBRD, which financed the project, the Embassy of the UK and other partners.
Minister of Justice Vladimir Cebotari welcomed the idea of launching the Mediation Center. “In summer, Parliament adopted a new law on mediation and we hope that this will help restore mediation. Success mainly depends on how powerful the platform, based on which we can build this institution, is. I personally cannot identify another, more successful platform than that of the CTI,” he stated.
British Ambassador to Moldova Phil Batson said that mediation plays a very important role in business, for reducing corruption and resolving disputes between entrepreneurs. “The development of the mediation mechanism will offer the Moldovans a situation in which everyone will gain and the UK will support this system in the Republic of Moldova,” stated the diplomat.
Director of the Mediation Center under the CTI Andrei Balan referred to aspects of the new law on mediation, such as exemption from paying the state tax and making of the reconciliation deals in the case of mediation mandatory. He informed about the procedure for selecting mediators who will work at the Mediation Center, noting the importance of the professional experience of mediators for the Center to be trusted by the beneficiary economic operators.
According to the Mediation Council, there are now 70 mediation offices and 655 authorized mediators in Moldova.
