Dr. Delio Carreras opening the 2011 Summer School.

The eleventh annual edition of the Summer School in Havana, held from June 27 to July 1, 2011, had a unique theme "the OHADAC Harmonization of Business Law and its prospects in Latin America and the Caribbean".

After the traditional opening ceremony in the Aula Magna of the University of Havana starring his Historian, Dr. Delio Carreras, Drs. Rodolfo Dávalos Fernández, Senior Lecturer on Private International Law at the University of Havana and José Carlos Fernández Rosas, Professor of Private International Law at the Complutense University of Madrid, gave an outstanding tribute to the recently deceased Dr. Rubén Muñiz, who shared with us the last Congress in Havana in June 2010 devoted to arbitration.

The Summer School, attended by over 110 registered Cuban jurists and dozens of invited experts, representatives of Latin America, Caribbean, Africa, Europe and the United States, then moved to the Hotel Nacional de Cuba ***** , National Monument, Ballroom 1930.

Dr. Rodolfo Dávalos Fernández at the main panel, next to Drs. Fernández Rozas, Bertrand Ancel & Sánchez Lorenzo.

Of the many speeches given during a week of legal exchanges and dialogue-friendly, we highlighted four lectures:

• "OHADA & OHADAC and its contribution to the Harmonization of Business Law", by Prof. Dr. Rodolfo Dávalos Fernández, Senior Lecturer on Private International Law at the University of Havana, Cuba;
• "Development of the French model of international commercial arbitration", by Prof. Dr. Bertrand Ancel, Professor of Private International Law at the University Paris II (Sorbonne), France;
• "Universalism and Regionalism in self-regulation and unification of international business law", by Dr. José Carlos Fernández Rosas, Professor of Private International Law at the Madrid Complutense University, Spain;
• "Keys to the unification of the law of international commercial contracts within OHADAC", by Prof. Dr. Sixto Sánchez Lorenzo, Professor of Private International Law at the University of Granada, Spain;

• "Free trade agreements in Latin America and the Caribbean, Contribution to the harmonization of commercial law in the region", by Dr. Michael Diaz, Jr., Attorney at the Miami Bar, Florida, Founding Partner of the Firm "Diaz Reus & Targ, LLP", USA-Cuba;
• "Enforcement, with particular reference to the seizure of credit", by Prof. Dr. Miguel Ángel Álvarez Michinel, Professor of Private International Law and Dean of the Faculty of Law, University of Vigo, Spain;
• "Harmonization of Intellectual Property Rights in the Caribbean and the Private International Law", by Dr. René Kiminou, Professor at the Antilles-Guyana University, President of the Martinique ACP Legal Chapter, Congo;

Dr. René Kiminou, during his Speech on Intellectual Property in the Caribbean.

• "The Impact of Globalization on International Arbitration with State Parties", by Dr. Alfredo De Jesus O., Attorney at the Paris Bar, Deputy Secretary General of the Venezuelan Arbitration Committee, Venezuela;
• "Ideas to combine the Common Law and Roman law-Latin in business law in the Caribbean", by Prof. Dr. Guillermo Diaz de Rivera, Professor of Commercial Law at the Pan-American University, Mexico;
• "Comparative analysis of INCONTERMS 2000 / 2010", by Dr. Fernando Perez-Correa Camarena, Attorney at the Mexico Bar, Mexico;
• "Exchange of Goods and Services in the Caribbean: prospects and reality" by Mr. Christian Benoît, Head of Economic Mission, French Embassy in Cuba, France;
• "News and Trends of Arbitration in the Dominican Republic and Latin America", by Dr. Leidylin Contreras, Attorney, Legal Adviser of the Dominican Republic Presidency, Dominican Republic.

Dra. Leidylin Contreras telling the Dominican experience in International Arbitration.

Gala Dinner with speakers from Cuba, Dominican Republic, Venezuela, Mexico, France and Spain.

Jean REALE
jean.reale@acplegal.net