The Law Forum of Global Trade and Investment Promotion Summit & Symposium on Building Central Legal District for Achieving Global Sustainability was successfully held

On 15 November 2022, the Law Forum of Global Trade and Investment Promotion Summit & Symposium on Building Central Legal District for Achieving Global Sustainability, co-hosted by the China Council for the Promotion of International Trade (CCPIT), and International Commercial Dispute Prevention and Settlement Organization (ICDPASO) was successfully held. This forum is jointly organized by ICDPASO Representative Office (Xiamen), the Department of Legal Affairs of CCPIT, and Xiamen Leading Group Office of Maritime Silk Road Central Legal District (MSRCLD), with two venues in Beijing and Xiamen of China.

REN Hongbin, Secretary of CPC Party Leadership Group and Chairman of CCPIT, ZHANG Yuejiao, Honorary Chair of ICDPASO, former Chair and Judge of WTO Appellate Body, Professor of Tsinghua University (Member of ICDPASO Advisory Committee), and LUO Dongchuan, Deputy Secretary and Head of the Commission for Political and Legal Affairs of CPC Fujian Provincial Committee, Head of MSRCLD Leading Group addressed the forum at the opening ceremony. KE Liangdong, Member of CPC Party Leadership Group and Vice Chairman of CCPIT presided over this session. With the theme of “Jointly Building High-end Legal Hubs and Supporting Sustainable Global Economic Development”, the forum focused on hot topics related to the development of legal hubs, digital economy governance, and intellectual property rights, building an international exchange and interaction platform to jointly promote the sustainable global economic development.

In his opening remarks, Chairman REN Hongbin noted that the business community, as a major force driving the recovery and development of the world economy, should adhere to genuine multilateralism, jointly uphold the multilateral trading system, promote trade and investment liberalization and facilitation, and ensure the security and smooth flow of industrial and supply chains. We should explore new models of cooperation between the global legal and business communities, work together to improve international economic and trade rules, and reduce and eliminate trade and investment barriers, creating favorable conditions for enterprises to compete on an equal footing and develop steadily.

Honorary Chair ZHANG Yuejiao stated that in the context of the recurrence of COVID-19, weak world economic recovery, and profound and complex changes in the international order, cooperation and international exchanges are needed to boost global trade and investment, bring the world economy out of the shadow of the crisis at an early date and realize sustainable recovery. This forum will be a good start by pooling wisdom, integrating efforts and reaching a consensus.

Deputy Secretary LUO Dongchuan stressed that new steps should be taken to optimize the business environment and strive to build the MSRCLD into an important hub serving the domestic and international double cycle. We should improve new mechanisms for expanding institutional opening-up, adhere to the principle of "leading law with business and promoting business with law", and attract high-quality enterprises and projects with high-end legal services. We should make new efforts to prevent and resolve international economic and trade disputes, and strive to build the MSRCLD as a preferred attraction for international commercial and maritime dispute settlement. We will achieve new breakthroughs in the development of the legal service industry, promote the iterative upgrading of the core legal industry in the MSRCLD, and promote mutual promotion and win-win results for related industries

AnnaJoubin-Bret, Secretary-General of the United Nations Commission on International Trade Law, Shoichi Okuyama, President of the International Association for the Protection of Intellectual Property (AIPPI), Bernard Dewit, Chairman of the Belgian-Chinese Chamber of Commerce (Member of ICDPASO Supervisory Committee) and Winner of Chinese Government Friendship Award, Angeline Ang Yih Ching, Deputy Director (International Partnerships) of the Legal Industry Division at the Singapore Ministry of Law, and WANG Chengquan, Vice-Chairman of the Standing Committee of the Xiamen Municipal People's Congress and Deputy Head of the MSRCLD Xiamen Leading Group delivered keynote speeches by live participation or recorded videos.

In the parallel forums, the speakers fully discussed topics and expressed their opinions via recorded videos, online or in person. At the Beijing venue, YU Xiaohan, Senior Jugde II of the intellectual property court of the Supreme People's Court of PRC, WANG Chengjie, Vice Chairman & Secretary General, China International Economic and Trade Arbitration Commission (CIETAC), WU Yuhe, General Manager of China Patent Agent (HK) Ltd., QU Xiaoyang, Senior Director Legal/Chief IP Counsel of Greater China region and member of global IP leadership team of Medtronic Greater China, and JIN Haijun, Professor of Renmin University of China (Member of ICDPASO Advisory Committee) Law School conducted a discussion on the topic of "Strengthening Legal Protection of Intellectual Property Rights and Facilitating Innovation-driven Development".

SUN Jian, Deputy Director General of the Bureau of Industrial, Security, Import and Export Control, Ministry of Commerce, WANG Xin, Deputy Director General of the Trade Remedy and Investigation Bureau,Ministry of Commerce, FU Donghui, Vice Chairman of the Legal Advisory Committee on Economic and Trade Friction of CCPIT, Managing Partner of AllBright Beijing Office, Jalal El Ahdab, Chairman of the European Branch of the Chartered Institute of Arbitrators, Former Chair of the International Bar Association Mediation Committee, Jean-François Bellis, Founding Partner of Van Bael & Bellis, Renato Antonini, Partner of Brussels office of Steptoe&Johnson LLP, LIAO Shiping, Professor at Beijing Normal University Law School, and LI Wei, Deputy Director General of Legal Affairs Department of CCPIT conducted a discussion on the topic of “Prospects and Proposals for the Governance of Global Economic and Trade Frictions".

At Xiamen venue, ZHANG Chunfei, Deputy Director of Institute of policy and Economics, China Academy of Information and Communication Technology of MIIT, HUANG Zhixiong, Vice Dean of the Law School of Wuhan University (Member of ICDPASO Advisory Committee), Member of International Group of Experts on Tallinn Manual 2.0 Project on International Law in Cyberspace, WANG Jian, Director and Professor of International Business Research Center of University of International Business and Economics, Helen GU Haiyan, General Counsel of the Legal Department and the President of the Judicial Research Institute of SINA Group, Frank LIU, Senior Director & Head of Product and Solutions, China - Mainland & HKSAR, Dun & Bradstreet, ZHONG Lihua, Deputy General Manager of Xiamen Meiya Pico Information Co., LTD, and CHEN Jihong, Senior Equity Partner and the head of IP Department of Zhong Lun Law Firm conducted a discussion on the topic of “Governance and Well-defined Rules of Digital Economy”.

LI Weihua, Member of the Standing Committee and Head of the Commission for Political and Legal Affairs of CPC Xiamen Municipal Committee, Executive Deputy Head of the MSRCLD Xiamen Leading Group, and LIU Chao, Secretary-General of ICDPASO addressed to the closing remarks.

LIU Chao, Secretary-General of ICDPASO, LONG Chuanhong, President of CCPIT Patent and Trademark Law Office, YANG Guohua, Professor at China Tsinghua University (Member of ICDPASO Advisory Committee) Law School, WTO Appeal Arbitrator for Multi-Party Interim Appeal Arbitration Arrangement (MPIA), the Executive Vice Chairman at WTO Law Research Society of China Law Society, LI Hu, Vice Chairman of China Maritime Arbitration Commission, Arbitrator of International Center for Settlement of Investment Disputes (ICSID) designated by the Government of the People's Republic of China, and XU Junqiang, Deputy Head of the Commission for Political and Legal Affairs of CPC Xiamen Municipal Committee, Deputy Director of MSRCLD Xiamen Leading Group Office presided over sessions of the Opening Ceremony, Announcement of Achievements, Keynote Speeches, Parallel Forums and Closing Remarks.

The Launching Ceremony of the Mediator Training Program (Xiamen, China) of the ICDPASOMediation Entity (IME) was held and the books of “The Belt and Road Initiative” National Legal Research Series were released during the forum. The forum was held in a combination of virtual and physical formats, with over 100 domestic and foreign guests including government officials, experts, scholars and entrepreneurs attending in person. About 3 million viewers around the world watched the conference simultaneously through live streaming platforms such as Xinhua Silk Road and the vzanlive.