Contracts committee boosted by five new members

Five leading global legal, contractual, risk and engineering experts have joined the FIDIC contracts committee.

FIDIC has further strengthened its influential contracts committee with the appointment of five new members from across the international construction and infrastructure sector.

The five new arrivals will boost the committee’s global experience and capabilities in a number of key areas and ensure that the committee remains at the cutting edge of international construction contract development.

The five new members are Mahmoud Abu Hussein (United Arab Emirates), Adriana Spassova (Bulgaria), Jafar Khan (United Arab Emirates), Keith Leung (Singapore) and Eoin Cullinane (Ireland). All bring a wide range of international construction experience including in the areas of major project development and management, legal and risk, employment law, adjudication, arbitration and dispute resolution.

FIDIC’s contracts committee is a crucial body for the organisation as it recommends to the FIDIC board which conditions of contract and related documents should be prepared or updated by the federation. The 12-strong international committee also works closely with FIDIC staff to establish task groups to monitor the committee’s work and review documents to ensure that they take account of the latest industry developments. Members of the committee also liaise with organisations interested in the FIDIC Rainbow suites Conditions of Contract.

Commenting on the five new committee members, FIDIC chief executive Nelson Ogunshakin said: “I’m delighted that we have attracted five leading global legal, contractual and engineering experts to sit on the FIDIC contracts committee. They will bring their considerable knowledge and experience to the committee’s work in drafting, producing and regulating the market-leading FIDIC contract suites of construction and professional agreements and I look forward to working with them over the coming months and years.”

FIDIC contracts committee chair Vincent Leloup commented: “Our committee is a vitally important one for FIDIC and it is excellent to see these international experts with highly relevant backgrounds so keen to become a member of this flagship FIDIC committee. I am delighted that we have attracted such highly qualified and experienced individuals applying to join FIDIC’s contracts team and assist our work and it illustrates the importance of the work that we do on behalf of the global construction contracts community.

“The new committee members will help to ensure that our contracts remain the go-to documentation for international funding organisations, clients and other procurers of construction and engineering consultancy services and I cannot wait to start working with them and have them on our team.”

The FIDIC contracts committee meets at least four times a year and its task groups play a key role in the development of new contracts and guidance documents for the industry. Members of the committee advocate and guide best practice in FIDIC Contracts across the global engineering and construction industry and also provide an expert resource for FIDIC on all its contracts and agreements. The committee also advises the FIDIC board and secretariat on all aspects of FIDIC contracts and their use in the international consulting engineering industry.