Forty-six countries signed the Singapore Convention on Mediation on Wednesday (Aug 7) - the day it opened for signatures.

The United States and China were among the first signatories of the treaty - also known as the United Nations (UN) Convention on International Settlement Agreements Resulting from Mediation - which will provide for the enforcement of mediated settlement agreements across countries.

Singapore was the first to put ink to paper for the treaty, as represented by Law and Home Affairs  Minister K. Shanmugam.

 

Asian economic heavyweights India and South Korea also signed.

States that have signed and ratified the treaty will have to ensure that international commercial settlement agreements are enforced by their courts.

Currently, mediated settlement agreements - which are the result of mediation negotiations between at least two commercial parties in a dispute - cannot be enforced across country borders.

The courts of signatory countries are expected to handle applications - either to enforce such settlement agreements, or to allow a party to invoke the agreement to prove that the matter has already been resolved.