The 2018 International Commercial Legal & Cooperation Forum was held in Changsha on 28 November 2018. The forum was hosted by China Council for the Promotion of International Trade (CCPIT), co-organized by CCPIT Commercial Legal Service Center, and Changsha Municipal People's Government. Leaders including Lu Pengqi, Vice Chairman of CCPIT and CIETAC, Zhou Nong, Deputy Director of the Standing Committee of Hunan Provincial People's Congress, Qiu Jixing, Deputy Mayor of Changsha Municipal People's Government, Zhu Hongren, Executive Vice President of China Enterprise Confederation, Yin Baohu, Director of China Legal Exchange Center, Yue Qinfang, Vice President of All China Lawyers Association, Dara Chhuon, State Secretary of Ministry of Commerce of the Kingdom of Cambodia, Yan Bingshou, Deputy Minister of Malaysian Youth and Sports Ministry and Luo Guoliang, Singaporean Ambassador to China, attended and addressed the forum. Over 700 representatives from embassies, business communities, Fortune 500 companies and well-known international legal service institutions attended the forum.

Gao Yan, Chairman of CCPIT, pointed out in her welcome letter that, with the theme of “New Era, New Platform, New Opportunity”, the forum responds to the needs in the new era, and allows in-depth discussion on building a new platform for international commercial legal communication and cooperation, providing new opportunities for enterprises by optimizing the business environment, and promoting the enterprises to conduct transnational business in compliance with the law. She hopes that the participants will have in-depth exchanges, build consensus, work together to promote international commercial legal cooperation, and make positive contributions to building an open global economy and a shared future for mankind.

In his speech, Lu Pengqi pointed out that the forum is a platform for exchanges and cooperation, the purposes are to improve the legal environment in China, to support Chinese companies to go out and understand the foreign legal systems, the legal environment and international rules, and to improve the ability to prevent and mitigate risks.

Li Hu, Deputy Secretary General of CIETAC, attended the meeting, presided over the discussion of international trade and investment dispute resolution, and communicated with Chinese and foreign experts. Li Hu pointed out that Chinese and foreign dispute resolution institutions should strengthen cooperation and exchanges, learn from each other, ensure quality, improve efficiency, provide high-quality and efficient dispute resolution services for Chinese and foreign parties, and continuously improve the international business environment and the healthy development of international trade and investment.

Cai Chenfeng, Director of Legal Service Center of CCPIT, presided over the opening ceremony. Zhang Shun, Deputy Director, signed commercial legal cooperation agreements with foreign counterparts on behalf of Legal Service Center of CCPIT.