The Secretary-General, Mr. Tjaco T. van den Hout, was one of two Keynote Speakers at the International Law Forum “Arbitration and Judicial Settlement,” held in Vientiane, Lao People’s Democratic Republic, on November 19, 2007. Judge Gilbert Guillaume, former President of the International Court of Justice and Member of the Permanent Court of Arbitration, was the other Keynote Speaker at the Forum, which focused on the dispute resolution mechanisms under Article 33 of the United Nations Charter.