Resolving a trade dispute takes on average 615 days in court. Mediation, next to arbitration, constitutes a new way to amicably resolve trade disputes. Since 2007, when Morocco first adopted the legal framework for mediation and arbitration, 960 trade disputes have been referred to mediation and 80% of the cases reviewed have been resolved resulting in about MAD 1.4 billion of additional funds for the private sector.
Experts agree that Morocco is ahead of its neighbors in the MENA region. Last week, Morocco hosted the "International Conference on judicial mediation to support economic development in the MENA region." "In the region, the country plays a pioneering role with countries like Lebanon and Egypt and should continue to pull other countries up," said Joumana Cobain who is the North Africa bureau chief of the International Finance Corporation (IFC), member of the World Bank Group and organizer of the event. Nevertheless, "Judicial mediation today raises two problems: the training of judges and mediators and raising awareness of businesses on the option," said Bertrand Louis, ambassador of Switzerland in Morocco. Among the objectives are the training of mediators and commercial mediation trainers as well as raising awareness of practitioners and potential users. Since 2007, hundreds of mediators have been trained and a thousand practitioners have resorted to alternative dispute resolution.
 

Source : L'Economiste