On Monday 15 October 2018 UNIDROIT partnered with the Fundación para la Investigación sobre el Derecho y la Empresa (FIDE) in delivering a MAC Protocol consultation workshop in Madrid, Spain. The event brought together international experts, registrars, governmental representatives and private sector stakeholders to discuss the MAC Protocol's possible future implementation in Spain. The event was chaired by UNIDROIT Secretary-General Igancio Tirado with expert presentations from Anna Veneziano (UNIDROIT Deputy Secretary-General), Teresa de las Heras Ballell Rodriguez (Professor of Commercial Law at Universidad Carlos III de Madrid), Marek Dubovec (MAC Working Group Director of Global Outreach) and William Brydie-Watson (UNIDROIT Legal Officer).

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The fourth meeting of the Working Group on Agricultural Land Investment Contracts took place at UNIDROIT’s seat in Rome on 9-11 October 2018. The Working Group began by discussing recent developments, including a presentation of the work at the panel on “Sustainable Investment in Agriculture” (Rome, 8 October 2018) during the IBA’s annual conference and the upcoming side event on “Improving Agricultural Investment Contracts and the Contracting Process” (Rome, 18 October 2018) that will take place during the CFS’ 45th plenary session. The Group then reviewed in detail drafts for all of the chapters of the future Legal Guide on Agricultural Land Investment Contracts, which are expected to be consolidated into a combined and substantially complete draft by the end of 2018. Lastly, the Group discussed next steps, including the plan for broad and extended consultations on the draft Guide, for incorporating the input received and for finalising the Guide.

On 9 October 2018, Ms Frederique Mestre, Senior Legal Officer, participated in an all-fora session on “The Future of Food: a Global Issue for Humanity” designed to debate the multifaceted nature of food security, resources, quality, transportation and production. Ms Mestre’s presentation focused on contract farming and the UNIDROIT/FAO/IFAD Legal Guide on Contract Farming. The session was moderated by Monica Weimann (Gomez-Acebo & Pombo, Madrid, Spain).

Speakers : Matt Kovac (Food Industry Asia, Singapore),
Valentina Lattanzi (Gattai, Minoli, Agostinelli & Partners, Milan, Italy),
Adaobi Osakwe (Agrolay Ventures, Lagos, Nigeria), Frederique Mestre (UNIDROIT, Rome, Italy)

On 9 October 2018, Governing Council member Mr José Antonio Moreno Rodriguez (Altra Legal Services, Asuncion, Paraguay) spoke of the importance of the UNIDROIT Principles of International Commercial Contracts at the International Bar Association’s Annual Conference in Rome. His presentation was included on a panel entitled “Should there be general principles for the application of soft law?”, presented by the Arbitration Committee and the IBA Arbitration Guidelines and Rules Subcommittee. The session was moderated by Alvaro Lopez de Argumedo (Uria Menendez Abogados, Madrid, Spain; Chair, IBA Arbitration Guidelines and Rules Subcommittee).

  (Governing Council member Mr Moreno Rodriguez)          

On 9 October 2018, the IBA Working Group on the UNIDROIT Principles of International Commercial Contracts discussed practical cases on the application of the UNIDROIT Principles at the Annual IBA Conference in Rome. The panel was introduced by project coordinator Willem Calkoen (NautaDutilh, Amsterdam) and Co-chair of the IBA international sales committee Cristina Martinetti (ELEXI, Turin), co-chaired by Simon Hotte  (FIDAL, Lyon)  and Ina Popova (Debevoise & Plimpton, NY) and saw Karina Goldberg (Ferro Castro Neves Daltro & Gomide Advogados, Sao Paulo), Sanjeev Kapoor (Khaitan & Co, New Delhi) and Gerard Meijer (NautaDutilh, Amsterdam)as speakers. Deputy Secretary-General Professor Anna Veneziano participated in the session together with Professor Michael Joachim Bonell. 

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Mr Wilem Calkoen (Working Group Coordinator, Nauta Dutilh, Amsterdam)		Ms Cristina Martinetti (Co-chair of the IBA international sales committee)

On 8 October 2018, Deputy Secretary-General Professor Anna Veneziano was invited by co-chairs of the Space Law Committee of the IBA, Ms Caroline Videlier-Gutmann and Ms Grace Nacimiento, to address the Legal and Financial Pros and Cons of the Space Protocol, which was included in a “Hot Topics” session at the IBA Annual Conference in Rome.

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On 2 October, UNIDROIT Deputy Secretary-General Anna Veneziano presented on “The Space Protocol of the Cape Town Convention: An International Secured Transactions Regime for Space Assets', within the International Institute for Space Law's session on 'Financing space: Procurement, competition and regulatory approach' at the 69th International Astronautical Congress held in Bremen (1-5 October 2018). The presentation was based on a paper co-authored with research assistant Hamza Hameed.

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On 28 September 2018, Roma Tre University and UNIDROIT co-hosted the Fifth Edition of the Annual International Arbitration Lecture entitled “Use of the UNIDROIT Principles of International Commercial Contracts: from scepticism to confidence”, as part of the programme of the International Commercial and Investment Arbitration Theory and Practice Certificate, jointly organised by Roma Tre, the Italian Arbitration Association, the International Court of Arbitration, and the Chamber of Arbitration of Milan. Professor Ignacio Tirado (Secretary-General of UNIDROIT) and Professor Andrea Zoppini (Faculty of Law, Roma Tre University) opened the event and introduced the Keynote speaker, Mr John Beechey CBE (Founding Partner at Beechey Arbitration and Past President of the International Court of Arbitration at ICC). Some 90 participants gathered in the UNIDROIT Library to attend the event.

John Beechey CBE delivering his speech		Group of participants