The Saudi Center for Commercial Arbitration has signed a memorandum of understanding with the National Center for Family Businesses (NCFB), whose objective is to strengthen the role of family businesses in furthering the national economy and to increase their contribution to Saudi Arabia’s GDP. The MOU aims to promote institutional arbitration and increase its prevalence among Saudi family businesses.

At the signing ceremony at SCCA headquarters in Riyadh, the SCCA was represented by its CEO, Dr. Hamed Bin Hassan Merah. The NCFB was represented by its CEO, Mr. Talal Bin Ajlan Al-Ajlan.

The MOU aims to invigorate strategic and executive cooperation between the two centers in order to offer alternative dispute resolution (ADR) to family businesses, and to raise awareness of ADR among those businesses, related economic sectors, and NCFB leaders and members

The MOU lays the groundwork for the resolution of family businesses’ disputes through arbitration, mediation, and other ADR services. It provides for the necessary organizational and administrative conditions, as well as the technical support needed to reach such resolutions quickly and effectively.

The Saudi Center for Commercial Arbitration will provide the technical support required to increase the prevalence of dispute resolution clauses in family businesses’ contracts, put on relevant training programs attuned to the nature of family businesses, raise awareness of ADR, and cultivate the skills of arbitrators, mediators, and experts to draft dispute resolution clauses or argue before arbitral tribunals.