On May 18, 2007, the Secretary-General of the International Centre for Settlement of Investment Disputes (ICSID), Ms. Ana Palacio, announced the appointment of Mr. Nassib G. Ziadé as its new Chief Counsel.
Mr. Ziadé, a dual Lebanese and Chilean national, has extensive experience in the administration of international legal proceedings, and in the management and development of international tribunals. Since 1997, he has served as the Executive Secretary of the World Bank Administrative Tribunal (Tribunal). In this capacity, he reorganized and strengthened the Tribunal's Secretariat, and administered over 260 cases while serving five successive Tribunal Presidents. He was in 1998 a member of the Grievance Process Review Committee which reviewed and reformed the Bank's Internal Conflict Resolution System, and has since been involved in all subsequent reviews of the System. He is a former Counsel at ICSID and a member of the Board of Editors of the ICSID Review—Foreign Investment Law Journal. In addition, he advised the Government of Bahrain and played an important role in the establishment of Bahrain's Constitutional Court.
Mr. Ziadé has published numerous studies in international law, organized several high-level international colloquia and spoken at numerous conferences. He is a Patron of the American Society of International Law and a member of its Executive Council. He is also a member of the Société française pour le droit international and of the Swiss Arbitration Association. He has since 1991 been a member of the Editorial Advisory Committee of International Legal Materials and since 1987 its Corresponding Editor for the Middle East. He has been invited by The Hague Curatorium to deliver a course on public international law at The Hague Academy of International Law.
Mr. Ziadé studied private and public law as well as international law, administrative and political science, and business administration at the French university in Beirut, the American University of Beirut, Cambridge University and the Sorbonne. Mr. Ziadé is fluent in Arabic, English and French, and has working knowledge of Spanish.
Mr. Ziadé was selected to this position through an international competitive selection process. He officially assumes his new functions with ICSID on July 1, 2007.