Armenia Wins Arbitration Case Against Southern Railway and Southern Highway Projects

The International Centre for Settlement of Investment Disputes (ICSID) tribunal has rejected a $326 million claim against Armenia in an arbitration case lasting approximately 4.5 years, related to the Southern Railway and Southern Highway projects. This was reported by Hetq.am.

According to Global Arbitration Review, a leading website monitoring international arbitration, on January 20, the tribunal dismissed all claims against Armenia by the Dubai-based Rasia FZE investment company and its American CEO, Joseph Borkowski, considering them time-barred.

The tribunal's ruling stemmed from the three-year statute of limitations requirement for civil claims under Armenian law. Global Arbitration Review noted that the tribunal also emphasized that claims by investors under the bilateral investment treaty between the U.S. and Armenia and contractual claims under Armenian law would not lead to compensation for damages, even if they had been timely.

The tribunal accepted Armenia's arguments that the claimants failed to establish a causal link regarding the alleged state interference in the concession.

It turns out that the claimants will be required to pay $2.8 million in state costs, as well as $11 million in their own expenses.

The arbitration proceedings were presided over by American arbitrator Gene Cali, assisted by British arbitrator John Bechey and Canadian arbitrator J. Christopher Thomas. Notably, the British arbitrator's nomination was proposed by the investors, while the Canadian arbitrator was nominated by the Armenian side.

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