New appointment to Financial Assistance Fund board

On July 2, 2013, at its 187th Meeting, the Administrative Council of the Permanent Court of Arbitration approved the appointment of L. Yves Fortier, CC OQ QC, to the Board of Trustees of the PCA’s Financial Assistance Fund for Settlement of International Disputes for a renewable term of four years.

A Member of the Court from 1984 to 1989, Me Fortier practices law in Montréal as an independent arbitrator and is recognized as one of the top arbitrators in the world. He has served as chairman, president, sole arbitrator or co-arbitrator on numerous international and national arbitral tribunals, either ad hoc or constituted by different arbitral institutions around the globe. He has also served as Canada’s Permanent Representative to the United Nations in New York.

Established in 1994, the PCA’s Financial Assistance Fund helps developing countries meet part of the costs involved in international arbitration or other means of dispute settlement offered by the PCA. Requests by states to the Fund are decided by its Board of Trustees which consists of no fewer than three, but no more than seven members who have experience in international dispute resolution and are of the highest moral standing. In accordance with Paragraph 8 of the Financial Assistance Fund’s Terms of Reference and Guidelines, members of the Board are appointed by the PCA Secretary-General with the approval of the Administrative Council.