On 14 September 2025, the International Conference titled “Reforming property law in the new era: International and Vietnamese Perspectives”, organised by UNIDROIT and the University of Law, Viet Nam National University, Hanoi (VNU-UL), took place in Hanoi, Viet Nam.
Prior to the conference, a signing ceremony of a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) was held between UNIDROIT and VNU-UL.
The MoU Signing Ceremony
The MoU between UNIDROIT and VNU-UL marked a new chapter in international legal partnership. The ceremony featured addresses from Professor Ignacio Tirado, UNIDROIT Secretary-General, Phạm Bảo Sơn, Vice President of Viet Nam National University, Hanoi, and Dr. Trịnh Tiến Việt, Acting Rector of VNU-UL.
In his remarks, Professor Ignacio Tirado emphasised UNIDROIT’s commitment to fostering cross-border legal collaboration through strategic partnerships, highlighting how this agreement aligns with the organisation’s mission to promote harmonisation of private law worldwide. By collaborating with VNU-UL, one of Viet Nam’s premier legal institutions, UNIDROIT gains a valuable platform to advance its instruments and projects in the region, while benefiting from local expertise and insights.
Vice President Phạm Bảo Sơn highlighted that the MoU marked a pivotal milestone in the University’s international cooperation efforts and would open a promising new chapter for advancing research, education, and professional development in international private and commercial law. He stressed that this partnership will help train high-quality legal professionals and support Viet Nam’s legal reforms and global integration.
International Conference on Reforming Property Law in the New Era: International and Vietnamese Perspectives
This international conference served as a forum on property law and the latest trends in formulating and reforming property law worldwide and in Viet Nam, bringing together leading experts and scholars from around the world.
The Conference examined property law’s evolution and reform, from theoretical foundations as well as UNIDROIT’s standards-based approach to contemporary issues such as crypto-property, data rights, and digital-age challenges.
A highlight of the Conference was the introduction of the Vietnamese translation of the UNIDROIT Principles on Digital Assets and Private Law (DAPL). The Vietnamese version utilises equivalent Vietnamese legal terminology while maintaining the original legal meanings of the principles and their commentary. This represents a pivotal step toward introducing the UNIDROIT instruments in the Asia-Pacific region, connecting global guidance to local application.
The conference concluded with lessons for Viet Nam, including China’s secured transactions reform and Viet Nam’s intellectual property transition.
Professor Iacopo Donati is the UNIDROIT/Bank of Italy Chair Holder and is mainly responsible for assisting in the Bank Insolvency project. He is Professor of Corporate and Insolvency Law at the University of Siena, and coordinates the research project ‘Pro.Re.Ba.’ (Proportionating rules on bank crisis prevention and management to the case of retail banks), which has received funding from the Italian Ministry of University. He has previously taught corporate law at the University of Venice ‘Ca’ Foscari’, at the University of Florence and at the University of Rome ‘Tor Vergata’.
rtered Institute of Arbitrators (London). He further holds a post-graduate diploma in law from the Kenya School of Law. Allan is also a scholar from the Hague Academy of International Law.
rofessor Ignacio Tirado was appointed Secretary-General by the Governing Council at its 97th session, and officially took office on 27 August 2018. A national of Spain, Professor Tirado (Commercial, Corporate and Insolvency Law, Universidad Autónoma of Madrid, Spain) holds a PhD from the Universities of Bologna and Autónoma de Madrid and an LLM from the University of London. Professor Tirado has been a Senior Legal Consultant at the World Bank’s Legal Vice-Presidency and Financial Sector Practice for more than nine years, having also consulted for the IMF on insolvency related matters as well as for the Asian Development Bank on commercial legal reform.
A Swedish national, Ms Lena Peters grew up in Italy where she attended an English school. In 1978 she took her Juris Kandidatexamen at Stockholm University followed by a Master of Laws from King’s College, London (1979). Since 1985 she has been with UNIDROIT, first as Research Officer, lastly as Principal Legal Officer, her main duties being Secretary to the Working Group for the Preparation of Principles of International Commercial Contracts, Secretary to the Study Group on Franchising, Secretary to the Committee of Governmental Experts on Franchising.She also collaborated on the project for the preparation of the ELI-Unidroit Model European Rules of Civil Procedure. She is currently Managing Editor of the Uniform Law Review and responsible for publications at UNIDROIT.
Marina Schneider is Principal Legal Officer and Treaty Depositary at UNIDROIT. She studied law at the University of Strasbourg (France) and Paris I – Panthéon Sorbonne. She joined the UNIDROIT in 1987 and was involved in the elaboration and French versions of most UNIDROIT instruments since. She is in charge of the 1995 UNIDROIT Convention on Stolen or Illegally Exported Cultural Objects and of the UNESCO-UNIDROIT Model Provisions on State Ownership of Undiscovered Cultural Objects. She is the author of the Explanatory Report of the 1995 Convention and many articles on the Convention and other international instruments in the field. Ms Schneider is also responsible for the project on private collections and for the UNIDROIT Convention Academic Project (UCAP). She is member of the Board of the International Society for Research on Art and Cultural Heritage Law (ISCHAL).
Professor of Commercial Law, Carlos III University of Madrid. Currently, Sir Roy Goode Scholar at UNIDROIT, Rome, 2021-2022. Chair of Excellence 2017-2018 at University of Oxford (Uc3m- Santander Program), affiliated to Harris Manchester College. Previously Distinguished Visiting Professor and fellow of a number of Academic Institutions. Arbitrator of Madrid Court of Arbitration. Member of ELI (European Law Institute) Council and Executive Committee. Member of the Expert Group of the European Commission on Liability and New Technologies and member of the Expert Group of the European Observatory of Platform Economy; the International Academy of Commercial and Consumer Law; the expert group of the Inclusive Global Legal Innovation Platform for Online Dispute Resolution – UNCITRAL and Hong Kong Department of Justice. Expert of the UNIDROIT Study Group on the MAC Protocol of the Cape Town Convention on International Interests. Delegate of Spain to UNIDROIT for the adoption of the Protocol, delegate of Spain in Working Group VI of UNCITRAL on secured transactions and in Working Group IV on Electronic Commerce. Member of UNIDROIT Working Groups on Enforcement and Warehouse Receipts.
William Brydie-Watson is an Australian lawyer who specialises in secured transactions law and private international law. Before joining UNIDROIT, William was a government lawyer in the Private International Law and International Arbitration section of the Australian Attorney-General’s Department, where he worked primarily on treaty negotiation and the implementation of private international law treaties in Australia. At UNIDROIT, he is primarily responsible for the implementation of the Mining, Agriculture and Construction (MAC Protocol) to the 2001 Cape Town Convention on International Interests in Mobile Equipment and the development of a Model Law on Factoring. William also serves as UNIDROIT’s liaison with the Asia Pacific Economic Cooperation (APEC) forum and as manager of the Institute’s Scholarship and Internship Programme. Admitted to practice in New South Wales and the High Court of Australia, he has a Bachelor of Arts (honours), a Bachelor of Laws and a Master of Laws from the Australian National University. William also lectures on International Secured Transactions Law at the Eotvos Lorand Faculty of Law in Budapest.