VIAC Secretary General Vu Anh Duong attended and shared insights at Seoul ADR Festival 2025 (Seoul, Korea)

Mr. Vu Anh Duong – Permanent Vice President cum Secretary General of VIAC delivered his perspective at the Asia Civil Law Summit on October 28th 2025

On 28^th October (Seoul, Republic of Korea), Mr. Vu Anh Duong, Permanent Vice President cum Secretary General of VIAC, attended and delivered his speech at the Asia Civil Law Summit, held as a part of the eventsseries under the Seoul ADR Festival SAF 2025. The Summit brought together representatives from leading international arbitration institutions across various jurisdictions to share their perspectives and engage in discussions on three key themes: (i) “From Rome to the World: The Legacy and Future of Civil Law; (ii) – Civil Law vs Common Law: Procedural Efficiency and Strategic Advantages; and (iii) The Role of Civil Law Traditions in Shaping International Arbitration.

In his speech, Mr. Vu Anh Duong shared some key insights, practical experiences, and recent developments within Vietnam’s arbitration framework in general, and VIAC’s dispute resolution practices in particular. As an arbitration institution operating under the civil law tradition, VIAC has been striving to adapt to the evolving expectations in today’s dispute resolution landscape, with a strong focus on enhancing the quality and efficiency of arbitral dispute resolution while following and maintaining the core principles of arbitration.

Mr. Vu Anh Duong emphasized that the current landscape of international arbitration is witnessing a harmonious convergence between the Common Law and Civil Law traditions, where the flexibility and adversarial skills of the Common Law tradition , together with the discipline and accountability of the Civil Law tradition, foster a more balanced and sustainable model of international arbitration.

He further emphasized that collaboration, rather than competition, is the key to the sustainable development of international arbitration. As the global arbitration market becomes increasingly interconnected, arbitration institutions operating under the civil law system should strengthen cooperation by sharing best practices in professional conduct, resources for arbitrator training, addressing misconceptions about civil law-based institutions, and reaffirming that these institutions are not only participants but essential pillars in today’s global arbitration ecosystem. Accordingly, the future of arbitration does not belong to any single legal system, but to those institutions capable of integrating and advancing the best practices from each legaltradition.

Alongside the representative from VIAC, discuss sessions in the 2025 Asia Civil Law Summit also featured the participation of representatives from prominent arbitration institutions within the civil law system, including the Korean Commercial Arbitration Board (KCAB), the Oman Commercial Arbitration Centre (OAC), the Shanghai Arbitration Commission (SHAC), the Dubai International Arbitration Centre (DIAC), the Saudi Center for Commercial Arbitration (SCCA), the Japan Commercial Arbitration Association (JCAA), the China International Economic and Trade Arbitration Commission (CIETAC), the German Arbitration Institute (DIS), and the Shanghai International Arbitration Centre (SHIAC). At the Summit, speakers and institutional representatives exchanged insights, shared operational experiences and management practices, and discussed current trends in commercial arbitration across civil law jurisdictions.