Tareq Al Shumaimry, a scion of the highly respected and renowned Al Shumaimry family in the State of Kuwait, is a legal luminary, diplomat, businessman, social activist and author.
Secretary-General GCCCAC
Tareq Al Shumaimry served as Secretary General of the GCC Commercial Arbitration Centre (GCCCAC), which groups the six Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC) countries, Bahrain, Kuwait, Oman, Qatar, Saudi Arabia, and the United Arab Emirates.
The Gulf Cooperation Council Commercial Arbitration Centre was established following a decision by their Majesties and Highnesses, the leaders of the GCC, at their annual Summit Meeting in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia in 1993. The Centre began its operation in 1995 from its headquarters in Manama, Bahrain.
The GCCCAC was instituted in view of the accelerated growth of the GCC region in all sectors of the economy. Today, the Centre plays a vital role in dispute resolution in the Arab world, and is a center of excellence in training arbitrators throughout the region.
The GCCCAC has signed cooperation agreements with several arbitration centers around the world, and seeks to position itself as the most dependable choice for dispute resolution by maintaining its reputation for independence, fairness and neutrality.
Tareq Al Shumaimry remains committed to enhancing the vision of the GCCCAC and expanding its activities in the GCC region, as well as globally.
Chairman of Financial, Budget Committees at PCA
Prior to his assignment as the GCCCAC Secretary-General, Al Shumaimry was Kuwait’s representative at the Permanent Court of Arbitration (PCA) in the Hague, The Netherlands, from 2013 to 2020.
During his seven-year tenure at the PCA he served as Chair of the Financial Committee, Observer at the 124-country Administrative Council, and the Chair of the Budget Committee. He also served as Minister/Counsellor at the Embassy of Kuwait in The Hague, The Netherlands during this period. The Permanent Court of Arbitration was established by the Convention for the Pacific Settlement of International Disputes that concluded at The Hague in 1899 during the first Hague Peace Conference.
Today the Court is a venerable multi-faceted intergovernmental organization that groups 124-Member States and provides the international community with a variety of dispute resolution mechanisms. Al Shumaimry began work at the PCA in 2013 as a member of the Financial Committee and was soon elected as this committee’s chairman, becoming the first Kuwaiti to serve in this position.
In 2020 he was appointed as the Chair of the PCA’s Budget Committee and, as an Observer at the organization’s Administrative Council, which shapes the PCA’s policies, and supervises its administration, budget and expenditure.
During his tenure at PCA, Al Shumaimry organized international arbitration conferences in Qatar, Saudi Arabia, and Kuwait. He also arranged visits by several dignitaries from Kuwait and the region to the PCA, to raise awareness on the workings of the arbitration institution, as well as promote and gather support for the ideals and values of PCA.
His efforts to forge a Host Country Agreement between the PCA and Kuwait, so as to facilitate the use of PCA’s dispute resolution mechanism in the country and the region are ongoing. In the meantime, he has facilitated the signing of a Cooperation Agreement between PCA and the Kuwait Commercial Arbitration Centre (KCAC), in order to make PCA’s dispute resolution services more widely accessible.
Al Shumaimry was also instrumental in establishing an annual Fellowship for Arab lawyers at the PCA, in cooperation with the Abdulaziz Saud Al-Babtain Foundation in Kuwait. The fellowship funds a PCA selected law graduate from the Arab world for a one-year study at the organization’s headquarters in The Hague to expose them to PCA’s various peaceful dispute resolution mechanisms.
Social activism
Tareq Al Shumaimry served for three years as a member of the Board of Directors of the Adaliya Cooperative Society, one of government-owned hypermarkets around Kuwait that serves the local community. Subsequently he served as the Chairman of Adaliya Cooperative Society for three years and was instrumental in the Cooperative achieving a record KD 8 million (US$ 27.50 million approx.) profit during his tenure.
He worked as a lecturer in Commercial Law at the Public Authority for Applied Education and Training, Kuwait. In addition, he also served as a lecturer at the Kuwait Judicial Center, under the aegis of the Ministry of Justice. He joined the Ministry of Justice, State of Kuwait and rose to the position of Chief of Experts and Deputy Director for Judicial Arbitration for Technical Affairs.
He has authored and published many publications and books, including an in-depth analysis of the Judicial Arbitration Process.