Events & Speeches

Justice Goh Joon Seng's Welcome speech at The Millennium Accord Signing Ceremony

The Honourable the Chief Justice Mr Yong Pung How, distinguished guests, ladies and gentlemen.

Good morning and welcome to our Millennium Accord (ėthe Accord') signing ceremony.

The Accord was launched on 9 December last year by the Singapore Mediation Centre (ėSMC') jointly with four other alternative dispute resolution centres. They are the Centre for Dispute Resolution of United Kingdom, Lawyers Engaged in Alternative Dispute Resolution of Australia, the Hong Kong International Arbitration Centre and JAMSEndispute of the United States.

In a Memorandum of Understanding with our Accord partners, we pledged to canvass support from the public and private sectors for their commitment that should they have Year 2000 disputes they will resolve them through the use of non-adjudicative and non-confrontational methods, that is, by management negotiation, and if that fails, by mediation.

The SMC has received tremendous support for the Accord. Parties responding positively to our drive have signed the Declaration of Support for the Accord Principles and Procedures. They have thereby expressed their intention to abide by the Accord Principles and Procedures to contain conflicts and work towards the amicable settlement of differences.

Organisations and companies which may encounter the millennium problem but have not come forward as Accord signatories are encouraged to contact the SMC. The Accord mechanism is available for both domestic and cross-border disputes which are bound to take place in the globalisation of activities in the coming years and in the next millennium. If a cross-border dispute arises between two or more Accord signatories from different countries, the parties may have their disputes resolved in any country or region represented by an Accord body. If a dispute arises between Accord signatories based in the same country where there is an Accord partner, it will be referred to that centre for resolution. This will be done with the assistance of its mediators using the model procedures of that centre. In Singapore, the SMC model mediation procedures will be applied and the mediators drawn from its panel of mediators.


The success of our drive is due, in no small measure, to the support we received from the Attorney-General's Chambers, the National Computer Board and the Singapore Information Technology Dispute Resolution Advisory Committee. They have worked with us unceasingly since November last year to garner acceptance of the Accord. The SMC gratefully acknowledges their invaluable contribution.


The Accord will add to the infrastructure in place in Singapore for the resolution of both domestic and cross-border disputes. This will further enhance Singapore's position as an international commercial and financial hub in this part of the world.

It is now my pleasure to invite our Guest of Honour the Honourable the Chief Justice to address us.