• Friday, March 29, 2024
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2015 IBA annual conference opens in Austria today!

INTERNATIONAL BAR ASSOCIATIOIN

The Annual Conference of the International Bar Association (IBA) opens today in Vienna, Austria where over 6,000 international lawyers are currently gathered to discuss today’s global legal issues.

José Manuel Barroso, immediate Past President of the European Commission is giving the keynote address at the Opening Ceremony of the Conference today at the Austria Center, Vienna. This will mark the beginning of a weeklong summit which brings together, from across the globe, 6,000 members of the legal profession, individuals from corporations, governments and regulators.

The IBA annual Conference is the largest gathering of international lawyers in the world, representing more than 120 countries. Taking place in Vienna, Austria, the heart of Europe, the 2015 conference venue is considered a strategic choice, as the Continent struggles through a remarkable array of challenges at the moment:  economic, political, human rights and immigration, among other things. Participants are hoping to hear José Manuel Barroso, who only recently concluded his Presidency of the European Commission, speak about Europe; giving special insight to some of the challenges faced by the continent.

This year the IBA Annual Conference has more than 200 working sessions covering all areas of practice relevant to international legal practitioners. Across the sessions there are more than 800 speakers from international organisations including the United Nations (UN), and the World Trade Organization, (WTO), who will share their insights on developing issues around the globe.

The week-long conference will cover virtually every aspect of law and justice, from policing the world: the role of national courts in extra-jurisdictional conflict crime, to the internet and how it is changing our lives through exchanging data through intelligent networks, to the supply of energy and resources and the geopolitical challenges in the context of world economy and political stability.

There will also be a Welcome Party tonight, where participants will be offered a special experience of the cultural and culinary highlights of Vienna in one of the world’s most renowned and historic music venues – The Wiener Konzerthaus.

Theodora Kio-Lawson