On 14 June the conference “Judicial Reforms in Transformation States – 20 Years of IRZ Foundation” took place in the jury courtroom of the Regional Court of Bonn before a high-ranking national and international audience of legal experts as a kick-off for the events celebrating the IRZ’s 20th anniversary.
At this conference, the national and international experts exchanged their experiences with international legal advice provided by the IRZ Foundation.
The event was opened by the President of the Regional Court of Bonn, Margarete Gräfin von Schwerin, the Lord Mayor of Bonn, Jürgen Nimptsch, as well as the Director of the IRZ Foundation, Dirk Mirow. The former Federal Minister of Justice, Dr. Klaus Kinkel, and the President of the Federal Court of Justice, Prof. Dr. Tolksdorf, were among the speakers. In his ceremonial lecture, Professor Tolksdorf highlighted the great importance of judicial independence. He stated that enormous progress has been made in this respect in many transformation societies; however, for a number of countries it still cannot be said that this principle has been firmly established.
The following speakers were the Minister of Justice of the Republic of Moldova, Dr. Oleg Efrim, whose topic was “The Judicial Reform in the Republic of Moldova and Advice provided by Germany”, and the Deputy President of the Supreme Commercial Court of the Russian Federation, Tatiana Andreeva, who spoke about “The Role of the Supreme Commercial Court of the Russian Federation in the Development of Legislation”.
The Secretary General of the Romanian Constitutional Court, Ruxandra Sabareanu, reported about the “Cooperation of the Romanian Constitutional Court with the IRZ Foundation”, and the lecture by Prof. em. Dr. iur. Omaia Elwan, University of Heidelberg, considered “Opportunities, Benefits and Perspectives of the German Legal Commitment in the Arab World”.
The international speakers also discussed the IRZ’s legal advice in their contributions. In particular, they pointed out that the cooperation with the IRZ Foundation is characterized by talks on an equal footing which makes it especially productive.
The expert event was followed by a reception and a vernissage with works by the artists Vladislav Stalmachov, Samo Skoberne and Cornelia Genschow, amongst others. These artists’ works will be exhibited in the foyer of the Regional Court of Bonn during the next weeks.
Mr. Karen Zadoyan, Advocate President of the Armenian Young Lawyers Association was invited and participated in the Conference as well.