The main task of the World Arbitration Centre is to accept arbitration cases and manage arbitration procedures. However, if the parties to the dispute are willing to mediation, the World Arbitration Centre's Arbitration Rules also allow arbitration and mediation to be combined so as to take advantage of arbitration and mediation. A mediation result can be legally transformed into an arbitration result. According to the 1958 New York Convention, consent awards can be recognized and enforced in more than 160 countries in the world.

Articles 52 and 53 of Chapter IX of the Arbitration Rules of the World Arbitration Centre provide for three forms of mediation:

First, with the consent of the parties, the arbitrator(s) of an arbitral tribunal can act as mediator(s), a "mediation window" is opened during the arbitral proceedings, and the arbitrator(s) may close the case by making a consent award or a mediation statement in accordance with the content of the  settlement agreement. If the mediation fails, the mediator(s) restores their capacities as arbitrator(s) and the arbitration continues (Article 52).

The second is that before or after the arbitral proceedings are commenced, the parties may apply to the World Mediation Centre or other mediation agencies for mediation. This type of mediation is called independent mediation. The World Mediation Centre or other mediation agency is independent of the World Arbitration Centre and is not a subsidiary of the World Arbitration Centre. After a mediation is successful, the parties have multiple options to process the mediation result. The mediation institution may produce evidence to prove that the settlement agreement is the result of mediation, which can be enforced in accordance with the Singapore Convention on Mediation or national laws. The parties may also avail themselves of the provisions of Article 53 of the Arbitration Rules of the World Arbitration Centre, under which the Chairman of the Centre may designate a sole arbitrator to form an arbitral tribunal to conduct hearing and make an arbitral award or mediation statement in accordance with the procedures deemed appropriate by the arbitral tribunal.

Third, after the arbitration procedure is commenced, mediation of the same dispute can be performed concurrently by an institution or an individual outside of the arbitration procedure. This type of mediation procedure coexists with the arbitration procedure and is therefore called “parallel mediation”. The institution or individual who presides over parallel mediation may be a professional mediation agency or mediator, or the Secretariat of the World Arbitration Centre. The aforementioned independent mediation may also be a parallel mediation. The mediators of independent mediation and parallel mediation are not allowed to act as arbitrators in resolving the same dispute, by doing so there is an advantage that the parties do not have to worry about a potential preconceived impression brought with by an arbitrator if an arbitrator-turn-into-mediator fails to mediate the dispute. The parties' communication with the mediator can be more frank. Parallel mediation can also be combined with arbitration administered by the World Arbitration Centre. The parties may also avail themselves of the provisions of Article 53 of the Arbitration Rules of the World Arbitration Centre, under which the Chairman of the Centre may designate a sole arbitrator to form an arbitral tribunal to conduct hearing and make an a consent award or mediation statement.