Vietnam ADR Week 2026 ran across Hanoi and Ho Chi Minh City in late May, organized by the Vietnam International Arbitration Centre with the Vietnam Lawyers' Association and a roster of supporting partners including the Hong Kong International Arbitration Centre.
Under the theme 'Arbitration & ADR: Embracing New Heights', sessions ran bilingually in English and Vietnamese at venues in both cities, covering arbitration, mediation and hybrid mechanisms for a market where foreign direct investment continues to generate a steady stream of cross-border commercial disputes.
Mediation holds a growing place in that picture. The Vietnam Mediation Centre — established under VIAC in 2018 as the country's first professional commercial mediation body under Decree 22/2017 — administers cases under its own rules, and the week's programming reflected rising interest in mediated outcomes among Vietnamese corporates and their foreign counterparties.
The event's regional partnerships tell their own story: with HKIAC and other international institutions lending support, Vietnam is positioning itself not merely as a source of disputes but as a venue for resolving them.
