THE HAGUE, Netherlands — Aug. 11, 2026 — The conversation began over coffee, far from the formal setting of a courtroom but in a city where questions of law and international justice have long shaped public life.
On Tuesday, Prof. Sabela Gayo, Ph.D., President of the Indonesian Dispute Resolution Council, met with Pascal Comvalius, one of the directors of the International Mediation Institute (IMI), for an informal discussion on mediation and the changing landscape of dispute resolution.
Their meeting brought together two professionals working in a field that has become increasingly important as business, investment and legal relationships cross national borders.
Mediation, unlike litigation, does not require disputing parties to surrender the final decision to a judge. Instead, it seeks to create a structured process in which the parties, assisted by a neutral mediator, can work toward an agreement.
That distinction has become increasingly relevant as organizations and individuals look for ways to resolve disputes that can otherwise consume years, significant resources and relationships.
For Indonesia, the challenge is particularly important as its economy becomes more closely connected to international commerce.
Cross-border transactions can bring opportunities, but they can also create disputes involving different legal systems, business cultures and expectations. Resolving those disputes requires more than knowledge of domestic law. It requires professionals who understand how different systems interact.
That was among the broader context surrounding the conversation between Gayo and Comvalius.
The meeting also reflected the growing importance of professional networks in dispute resolution. Standards, training and international cooperation can influence how mediators work across jurisdictions and how confidence in mediation is built among businesses, institutions and the public.
The presence of the two professionals in The Hague added another layer to the discussion.
Few cities carry the same association with international law. The Hague is home to several institutions at the center of the international legal system, making it a natural setting for conversations about how disputes can be resolved beyond national borders.
Yet the meeting itself was deliberately informal.
There was no courtroom, no formal hearing and no judgment to announce. Instead, there was a conversation — the kind of exchange through which professional relationships are often built before they become formal partnerships.
For Gayo, strengthening connections with international practitioners and institutions is part of the broader task of developing dispute resolution in Indonesia and connecting Indonesian professionals with the global mediation community.
For the mediation profession more broadly, such conversations point to a question that is becoming harder to avoid: as disputes become more complicated and increasingly international, can parties find ways to resolve their differences before conflict becomes a permanent division?
The answer may not always be found in a courtroom.
Sometimes, it begins with two people sitting across a table, speaking openly about how to find common ground.
In The Hague, on Tuesday, that conversation happened over coffee.
