On November 13, the opening ceremony of CIETAC Shandong Sub-Commission and Seminar on Arbitration and Business Environment Construction were held in Ji’nan, Shandong. Lu Pengqi, Vice Chairman of China Council for the Promotion of International Trade (CCPIT), and Ren Airong, Vice Governor of Shandong Province, jointly unveiled the plaque of CIETAC Shandong Sub-Commission. Wei Huaxiang,  Vice Secretary General of Shandong Province, Wang Chengjie, Vice Chairman and Secretary General of CIETAC, and relevant leaders from Shandong High People’s Court, Provincial Department of Justice, Provincial Department of Finance, Provincial Department of Commerce, Provincial State-owned Assets Supervision and Administration Commission, Provincial Administration for Market Regulation, CCPIT Shandong Provincial Committee, Provincial Association of Industry and Commerce, Shandong Lawyers Association, Shandong University of Political Science and Law, Law School of Shandong University attended the ceremony. Wang Chengjie chaired the opening and signing ceremony.

Lu pointed out in his speech that arbitration is an important part of the legalized business environment in the new era. The establishment of CIETAC Shandong Sub-Commission will help bring in Shandong CIETAC’s abundant domestic and overseas arbitration resources, mature management experiences of arbitration cases, and its arbitration rules and practices in line with international arbitration community, provide parties with international, standardized and convenient arbitration legal services, further optimize the business environment in Shandong, and serve the economic and social development of Shandong.

He emphasized that in the future, the CIETAC Shandong Sub-Commission shall stick to the principle of independence and impartiality, enhance the credibility of arbitration, serve the enterprises and help improve their abilities in legal risks prevention and control, strengthen cooperation with arbitration institutions and other organizations in Shandong with innovative efforts for a win-win result, and jointly make contributions to the reform and opening-up of Shandong Province.

(CCPIT Vice Chairman Lu Pengqi delivered a speech)

Ren pointed out that the setup of CIETAC’s branch in Shandong will greatly promote the cooperation on the basis of complementary advantages of both sides and achieve win-win outcomes, and play a significant role in Shandong’s actively participating in the national top-level design for arbitration system, increasing the level of economic openness, improving legalization of business environment, and perfecting market credibility system.

(Vice Governor of Shandong Province Ren Airong delivered a speech) 

(Lu Pengqi and Ren Airong jointly unveil the plaque of CIETAC Shandong Sub-Commission)

(CIETAC Secretary General Wang Chengjie chaired the opening and signing ceremony)

After the opening ceremony, witnessed by the leaders present at the venue, Zhao Jian, Vice President of the CIETAC Arbitration Court and Secretary General of CIETAC Shandong Sub-Commission, on behalf of CIETAC Shandong Sub-Commission, signed cooperation agreements with Shandong Lawyers Association and Law School of Shandong University respectively.

(Zhao Jian and Wang Minsheng, Chairman of Shandong Lawyers Association, on behalf of CIETAC Shandong Sub-Commission and Shandong Lawyers Association respectively, signed the cooperation agreement)

(Zhao Jian and Shen Wei, Dean of Law School of Shandong University and CIETAC arbitrator, on behalf of CIETAC Shandong Sub-Commission and Law School of Shandong University respectively, signed the cooperation agreement)

In the Seminar on Arbitration and Business Environment Construction, 10 legal and arbitration experts from Beijing and Shandong spoke on hotspot issues of investment, financing and commercial arbitration and international construction projects, and had heated discussions.

(Session One: hotspot issues on investment, financing and commercial arbitration)

Session One was focused on the hotspot issues of investment, financing and commercial arbitration, and was chaired by Zhao Jian. Li Yuquan, CIETAC arbitrator and General Manager of HeTai Life Insurance Company, spoke on export credit insurance and bank financing disputes. He elaborated on the current situation of export credit insurance and bank financing disputes, analyzed potential risks of banks, insurance companies and traders of transactions between banks and insurance companies under indemnity transfer mode, and proposed suggestions on the prevention strategy.

（Li Yuquan made a speech）

Cao Lijun, CIETAC arbitrator and Partner of Zhonglun Law Firm, made a speech on combination of arbitration and mediation and its future. He first analyzed the legislation and practices of mediation in China, elaborated on the two modes of combination of arbitration and mediation, i.e., mediation in arbitration and Med-Arb. He also made in-depth analysis on the newly released Singapore Mediation Convention (Convention on the Enforcement of International Settlement Agreements) and its potential influence on arbitration and on China.

(Cao Lijun made a speech)

Shen Wei, Dean of Law School of Shandong University and CIETAC arbitrator, delivered a speech on business environment and resolution of commercial disputes. He first analyzed the business environment in the current stage, introduced the evaluation system of business environment, discussed specific measures of legalization of business environment and necessity of improvement of dispute resolution mechanism, and introduced international and regional business environment modes that are worth learning from.

(Shen Wei delivered a speech)

Ren Zhanjiang, CIETAC arbitrator and Senior Partner of Shandong Kangqiao Law Firm, made a speech on the recognition and enforcement of foreign and CIETAC arbitral awards in Shandong courts. He introduced the enforcement of foreign and CIETAC arbitral awards in Shandong with the illustration of cases, and summarized relevant problems that should be noticed on application of enforcing foreign arbitral awards.

(Speech by Ren Zhanjiang)

Zhang Qing, Partner of Qingdao Area of Jointide Law Firm, made a speech on risks evaluation and prevention of cross-border investment. He introduced basic situation of cross-border investment in China and policy documents issued by relevant ministries on domestic companies’ overseas investment. He summarized major risks of cross-border merger and emphasized on legal risks and prevention of merger from multiple perspectives. He suggested companies to improve awareness of arbitration and take active measures to resolve disputes during the process of “going out”.

(Zhang Qing made a speech)  

(Session Two: hotspot issues on international construction projects)

Session two was focused on hotspot issues on international construction projects and chaired by Jia Shen, Deputy Director of CIETAC Business Development Department and Vice Secretary General of CIETAC Shandong Sub-Commission. Wang Shouqing, Professor of Department of Construction Management of Tsinghua University and Chief Expert of Center for Public-Private Partnership at Tsinghua University, made a speech on current development of PPP in China and dispute resolution. He elaborated on the major problems and the reasons behind in the PPP development at the current stage, teasing out related documents of current policies, and predicted trends for PPP and improvement of dispute resolution mechanism. 

(Wang Shouqing made a speech)

Wang Jihong, CIETAC arbitrator and Partner of Zhonglun Law Firm, delivered a speech on domestic and overseas PPP projects and arbitration. From the perspective of lawyers, she analyzed current situation of PPP projects and future of dispute resolution combing with her practical experiences. She also emphasized on advantages of resolving PPP disputes by means of arbitration.

(Wang Jihong made a speech)

Zhao Hang, CIETAC arbitrator and Senior Consultant of Beijing Commerce & Finance Law Offices, made a speech on causes of overseas projects disputes between Chinese enterprises in the context of OBOR initiative. With specific and real cases, he analyzed issues of reference of foreign in arbitration, how to determine the validity of overseas project contracts and how to solve difficulties in producing evidence of overseas projects in arbitration.

(Zhao Hang made a speech)   

Zhou Changpeng, Director of Shandong Haocai Law Firm, made a speech on construction disputes resolution in Shandong from the perspective of big data. He analyzed cases and trends of construction industry in Shandong in recent years by big data, emphasized on common problems of “black and white contracts” and law enforcement difficulty, and pointed out that an improved alternative dispute resolution mechanism is necessary in resolving construction disputes. 

(Zhou Changpeng made a speech)

Kang Junliang, CIETAC arbitrator, Director of Mediation Center of China Real Estate Association & Secretary General of Legal Affairs Commission of China Real Estate Association, made a speech on developments of real estate industry and diversification of dispute resolution. From the perspective of policy and market, he elaborated on the trends of real estate industry in China, analyzed the subjects, contents and influences of credibility evaluation of real estate industry, pointed out the short, medium and long term development trends in the real estate industry, and proposed strategies of resolving disputes by diverse mechanisms.

(Kang Junliang made a speech)

In the end, Xu Qing, Chairman of CCPIT Shandong Provincial Committee, delivered a closing speech.

(Chairman of CCPIT Shandong Provincial Committee Xu Qing delivered a closing speech) 

More than 200 participants from Beijing and Shandong attended these events, including representatives from arbitration and legal circles, lawyers, experts, and people from the business community.