United Arab Emirates – New memorandum bolsters UAEAustralia commercial ties

LEGAL and business ties between Australia and the UAE were cemented through the signing of a Memorandum of Guidance (MoG) between the New South Wales Supreme Court and the Dubai International Financial Centre (DIFC) Courts. 

The milestone document, which covers the mutual enforcement of money judgments, was signed at a ceremony in Sydney, Australia, by NSW chief justice Tom Bathurst and DIFC Courts chief justice Michael Hwang, in the presence of NSW deputy premier and minister for Trade and Investment, Andrew Stoner MP and the Chargé d’Affaires for the UAE Embassy to Australia, HE Abdulbaset Al Marzooqi. 

The memorandum represents the first time an Australian court has entered into an understanding to consult and cooperate with the DIFC Courts on the enforcement of each party’s money judgments in the other’s courts. chief justices Bathurst and Hwang agreed the memorandum would give certainty and clarity to investors, businesses and legal professionals operating in each jurisdiction by defining, for the first time ever, the method of enforcement of judgments. 

The signing also brings to three the number of memoranda now in place between the NSW Supreme Court and international jurisdictions. Other agreements covering issues arising under foreign law have previously been signed with the Singapore Supreme Court and New York State Court of Appeals.