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" REVIEW OF THE NEW ARBITRATION BILL   REVIEW OF THE NEW ARBITRATION BILL   By   Wasif Majeed Advocate High Court, Lahore   A new arbitration and conciliation law for Pakistan is in the offing. The proposed bill (available on the Ministry of Law, Pakistan, website www.molaw, gov.pk) proposes to bring under one roof the major arbitration related laws that are presently in force in Pakistan including the law on arbitration, the Convention on the Recognition and Enforcement of Foreign Arbitral Awards and the Washington Convention on the Settlement of Investment Disputes, 1965. The two novelties in the Draft Arbitration Bill are the provisions dealing with conciliation and the establishment of an Arbitration and Conciliation Center. The Draft Arbitration Bill has apparently been based on the United Nations' Commission on International Trade Law's ("UNCITRAL") Model Law on International Commercial Arbitration and Conciliation, as adopted in 1985 and 2002 respectively, as well as Model Arbitration and Conciliation Rules, as adopted in 1976 and 1980 respectively. However, a reconnaissance of the Draft Arbitration Bill reveals that it is largely based on the Indian Arbitration and Conciliation Act, 1999, with the exception of provisions dealing with the ICSID Convention and the Arbitration and Conciliation Center. Further, various changes were made to the Model Law on International Commercial Arbitration by the UNCITRAL in 2006, however, Draft Arbitration Bill disregards the adopted changes. The changes were adopted by the UNCITRAL at its thirty-ninth session in 2006.   The following observations/suggestions vis-a-vis the Draft Arbitration Bill are worth-considering:   Section 2(1) (i) of the Draft Arbitration Bill provides the…