India hosts inaugural UNCITRAL South Asia Conference

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International Trade Law (UNCITRAL) South Asia conference from 14 to 16 September. The conference was organised jointly by the Ministry of External Affairs, UNCITRAL and the organisation’s national coordination committee for India. Minister of state for external affairs Rajkumar Ranjan Singh, chief justice of India DY Chandrachud and Attorney General R Venkataramani were present at the event.

The three-day conference was in continuation of the conference hosted in New Delhi in 2016 to celebrate 50 years of UNCITRAL, said a press release by the Ministry of External Affairs. The press release added that the conference aimed at furthering India’s engagement with UNCITRAL and encouraging interaction between UNCITRAL, judiciary, bureaucracy, academia and the legal fraternity. According to the organisation's website, UNCITRAL is described as “the principal legal entity within the United Nations system dedicated to international trade law.

"A legal body with universal membership specializing in commercial law reform worldwide for over 50 years, UNCITRAL's business is the modernization and harmonization of rules on international business," reads the organisation’s website." MoS Dr. Rajkumar Ranjan Singh mentioned that India shares a unique relationship with UNCITRAL and has been a member of UNCITRAL since its inception being one of the first 29 member States. He also mentioned the diversity of the region and the economic strides made by the South Asian Region, the press release said.