Increasingly Ireland has proven to be the domicile of choice for asset managers seeking to establish investment funds investing in India which can be marketed to European and global investors.

Following the establishment of full diplomatic relations in 1992, India and Israel have enjoyed a fruitful partnership. Bilateral trade between the countries has been strengthened on the basis of mutual interests in defense, security, agriculture, IT and other sectors. Accordingly, the economic relations have steadily grown since, from $200m (diamonds and defense excluded) in 1992 to approximately $1.94bn in 2018.

The United States and India should view one another as important strategic business partners regionally and globally. With a common legal system of British heritage, democratic governance and relatively free market economies, one would think the two countries would enjoy more trade and mutual direct investment in one another than in European and other Asian countries. But they do not.

In my view a global dispute involves various parties, from a number of different countries, litigating or arbitrating issues that frequently span multiple jurisdictions. This could range from parallel proceedings going on in different jurisdictions or substantive proceedings in one jurisdiction with interim relief applications in other jurisdictions or, as is common in international arbitration, where the parties are from different jurisdictions and have chosen a neutral seat and neutral governing law.

Russia is both a European and an Asian country, but has often appeared to pay more attention to relations with Europe. That is changing, as shown by major energy deals between Russia and China; robust bilateral trade and political discussions with Japan, South Korea, India and Vietnam; and Russia’s hosting of regional conferences, including the Eastern Economic Forum in September 2017. Among other goals, Russia seeks to attract substantial foreign investments from its Asian and Indian partners. For both geographical and practical reasons, foreign investors may wish to focus on the Russian Far East, a historically neglected region which has the potential to become a significant player in Asian-Pacific trade. This is a vast area with a population of more than 7 million people that includes the ports of Vladivostok, Khabarovsk and Nakhodka and extensive natural resources.

Indian arbitration has been viewed by USA businesses as unpredictable and slow. Few USA businesses have agreed to arbitration conducted in India by an Indian arbitration forum. The 2015 Arbitration and Conciliation (Amendment) Act aimed to address concerns of the international business community about arbitration in India. It expressly limits the duration of on-shore arbitration to twelve months, with a possible six-month extension. After the prescribed period, the panel’s mandate automatically expires unless the parties appeal to the courts for a further extension. While theoretically sound, these time limits are yet to be tested in practice. It will take time for USA businesses to come to view Indian arbitration as a fair or preferred choice.

The dispute resolution landscape in the UK is in the midst of significant change. Many consider the reforms to be the most far-reaching civil justice transformations since the 1870’s1 and this is not even taking into account what may happen with Brexit (which we will discuss below).

Ireland has recently introduced purpose-specific domestic legislation that enables two or more Irish companies to merge into a single company. This form of domestic merger enables one or more companies to transfer by operation of law all its assets and liabilities to another Irish company, upon which the transferor company is dissolved without going into liquidation. It mirrors aspects of the EU cross-border merger regime, which has been available to EEA companies, including Irish companies, since 2008.

A foreign judgment can be enforced in Hong Kong by one of two means – first, through the statutory registration scheme based on reciprocity under the Foreign Judgments (Reciprocal Enforcement) Ordinance (Cap 319) or, second, under common law.

The Gulf countries have always had strong trade relations with India and we see this bond strengthen­ing over the coming years. With bilateral trade projected to reach US$ 100 billion by the year 2020 between India and the UAE alone, avenues for business and cross border investments between the Indian subcontinent and the Gulf look bigger and brighter than ever before.

Germany’s attractiveness as a place to invest and as a trading partner is unbroken.

The 70th anniversary of diplomatic relations between Brazil and India, which began with installation of the Brazilian embassy in New Delhi in the following year of India independence, is celebrated in 2018. The similarities of both countries may be a good perspective to explain the critical value of such partnership to Brazil, which has grown stronger through so many different times and contexts.

Heuking Kühn Lüer Wojtek's Dr André-M Szesny, LLM, Dr Susanne Stauder and Anna Coenen explain Germany's new transparency register.

United Arab Emirates United Arab Emirates (“UAE”) is a federation of seven Emirates, which were formed on 2 December 1971. The country has emerged as a global trading hub and as a gateway to the Gulf Co-operation Council countries (“GCC”) with which it enjoys legal and commercial agreements and treaties. It also leads the GCC countries in providing access to one of the leading financial markets in the region based out of the Dubai International Financial Center (“DIFC”).

Despite these positive signals, India suffers from a legacy perception of the license Raj. Investors face a host of legal and regulatory risks, including foreign exchange, foreign investment restrictions, and corruption. Foreign investments into India are subject to the FDI Policy of the Government of India and the provisions of the Foreign Exchange Management Act (FEMA).

In March this year, the UK government served formal notice under Article 50 of The Treaty on European Union (‘EU’) to terminate the UK’s membership of the EU. This starts a two year notice period, which means the UK’s exit (or ‘Brexit’) will most take effect in March 2019. In the meantime, the UK will seek to negotiate the terms of exit and future trading relationships.