Opening Remarks Judicial Panel on Enforcement Issues and Judicial Cooperation

I am greatly honoured to have been invited to deliver this address on the occasion of this important Conference in Mexico, which regroups judges, lawyers and business people of the three NAFTA countries. 

Your Conference is one of the very few international events where an effort has been made to bring together members of the judiciary and practitioners involved in the practice of arbitration. This is a most worthwhile  endeavour.  I congratulate the NAFTA Advisory Committee and the U.S.-Mexico Conflict Resolution Center for their initiative in that regard. 

Since the beginning of this conference, I have attended as many presentations as possible, taking into account that the format of the Conference prevented one from attending all of them. Bearing in mind the heavy programme of this event and the very high quality of the presentations made, it is not easy to come in on the second day as an "after-luncheon speaker" and even worse a "during luncheon-speaker" and attract the interest of an audience which has already been intellectually, if not physically, overfed. You will be relieved to hear that my comments will therefore be rather short. I will also try to make them a lighter fare.