On 11 November, the 2022 International Marine Economy and Maritime Services Forum officially opened in Ningbo, Zhejiang province. With the theme of "Extensive Consultation on Maritime Economy, Collective Cooperation for a Blue Future", the forum focused on the new pattern of green transformation and upgrading of the Marine economy in the context of the UN Principles for Sustainable Marine Development, and contributed wisdom on hot legal issues in the commercial maritime fields to help ensure steady and solid global economic recovery. As an important outcome of the forum, Ningbo International Maritime Dispute Resolution Center was formally established by China International Economic and Trade Arbitration Commission(“CIETAC”), China Maritime Arbitration Commission, CCPIT Commercial Legal Service Center, Ningbo CCPIT, Ningbo Bureau of Justice and Ningbo Maritime Court, and held the signing and inauguration ceremony at the forum.

(Ke Liangdong ,Vice Chairman of CCPIT delivering speeches)

Ke Liangdong, Vice Chairman of the China Council for the Promotion of International Trade(“CCPIT”) attended the opening ceremony and addressed at the forum. Ke Liangdong pointed out that CCPIT is a pioneer and active promoter of maritime legal services in China. In the course of 70 years of development, it has formed a full-chain, one-stop and international commercial legal service system, including participation in international commercial rule making, global economic governance, early warning and response to economic and trade frictions, diversified disputes resolution, intellectual property services, enterprise compliance construction, initiating establishing a number of first legal service institutions nationwide, including CIETAC. In the future, CCPIT will give full play to its unique functions and advantages of connecting government and enterprises, combining domestic and foreign markets, and unblocking supply and demand, actively encourage international community to pay attention to, protect and cultivate the ocean, and make greater contribution to promoting maritime connectivity and practical cooperation in various fields and jointly building a maritime community with a shared future.

(Ningbo International Maritime Dispute Resolution Center formally established)

In the release of results, Xie Changqing, Vice president of CIETAC Arbitration Court and leaders from other five units jointly signed a contract for the establishment of Ningbo International Maritime Dispute Resolution Center and inaugurated. The establishment of the center aims to give full play to the professional advantages of the cooperative units and carry out practical cooperation in building an international maritime disputes resolution mechanism, which hopes to open up the links among "litigation, arbitration, mediation, adjustment" and other maritime disputes resolution, build a "one-stop" working mechanism, and provide an excellent model that can be copied, referenced and promoted for diversified maritime disputes resolution in China.

(Xie Changqing, Vice President of CIETAC Arbitration Court attended the inauguration ceremony)

As the first arbitration institution established after the founding of the People's Republic of China, CIETAC has always been committed to providing independent, fair and efficient arbitration services. It has properly handled over 50,000 domestic and international commercial disputes involving more than 100 countries and regions. Its arbitral awards have been widely recognized and enforced worldwide, and its credibility has been recognized both at home and abroad. In the authoritative "2021 International Arbitration Survey Report", CIETAC was ranked as one of the world's five most popular arbitration institutions. In recent years, CIETAC has attached great importance to its work in Zhejiang. CIETAC has set up CIETAC Zhejiang Sub-commission in Hangzhou, Ningbo office and Wenzhou Trial Center in order to facilitate dispute resolution for local enterprises. In addition, CIETAC Zhejiang Sub-commission, together with Yiwu People's Court and Yiwu CCPIT jointly established the first national one-stop dispute resolution platform for international commercial disputes litigation, providing with the whole chain of dispute resolution services.

At this forum, Ningbo Municipal People's Government and CCPIT signed a memorandum regarding cooperation on jointly promoting Marine Center City construction, and issued Rules of General Average Adjustment of China Council for the Promotion of International Trade (English version). Nearly 50 expert representatives from 13 countries and regions, including Chinese and foreign government agencies, international organizations, embassies and consulates in China, Fortune 500 companies, industry organizations, legal and business industries, focused on the new trend of green port and shipping development, the innovation and development of commodity trading and logistics supply chain,  development of smart ship technology and the digitalization of ship operation and management, and improvement of maritime commercial legal services and business environment optimization as well as high-quality shipping finance and insurance services and other topics.