Full of potential and vital to many areas of ICC work is how ICC Secretary General Guy Sebban recently described the Arab region and ICC members located there.

Speaking at the 5th ICC Regional Conference of Arab National Committees, Mr Sebban punctuated the importance of the region in promoting cross-border trade and investment, and in other areas of ICC work including dispute resolution services, policy development and the World Chambers Federation.

"The Arab region has the enviable advantage of being at the crossroads of three continents," said Mr Sebban. "By working together through the ICC network of national committees, we hope this region can build on its economic strengths and achieve the success it deserves."

Addressing conference participants during the opening ceremony, Mr Sebban extolled the growing participation of ICC National Committees and their members from the region in ICC-led events.

Later, during a plenary session presentation, he emphasized issues crucial to the success of a multilateral trading system. They included: the importance of intellectual property rights protection, banking rules and regulations, dispute resolution services, and the role of new technologies in bridging the gap between rich and developing nations. He also discussed the progress of specific ICC projects related to these issues, such as BASCAP (Business Action to Stop Counterfeiting and Piracy) and the revision of the ICC Uniform Customs and Practice for Documentary Credits (UCP 600).

Presentations were also given by Ahmed Saif Belhasa, Chair, ICC UAE; Ahmed Mohammed Al Midfaa, Chair, Sharjah Chamber of Commerce and Industry; Louis Hobeika, Honorary Secretary General, ICC Lebanon; Abdul Rahman Al-Mufarreh, Secretary General, ICC Saudi Arabia; and Mousef Al Kooli, ICC Tunis.

The 5th ICC Regional Conference of Arab National Committees took place in Sharjah, United Arab Emirates from 25-27 March under the patronage of His Highness Sheikh Sultan bin Mohammed Al Qasimi, Crown Prince of Sharjah. It attracted participants from a wide range of countries in the region including Egypt, Lebanon, Morocco, Saudi Arabia, Tunisia and the UAE.

Inaugurated in 2003, ICC UAE is the most recent addition to the ICC family in the Arab region. ICC is represented in almost all countries of the region and is developing ties in countries where it does not yet have a direct member or national committee such as Oman, Yeman and Libya.