（China Arbitration Summit Conference Site）

2017 China Arbitration Summit (the Summit) was successfully held in Beijing on September 19-20, 2017. The Summit was co-hosted by the Supreme People’s Court of the People’s Republic of China (SPC), China Council for the Promotion of International Trade (CCPIT), and China International Economic and Trade Arbitration Commission (CIETAC), and supported by Renmin University of China, All China Lawyers Association, and Beijing Lawyers Association. Member of the SPC Judicial Committee and Grand Justice of the Second Rank Liu Guixiang, Vice Chairman of CCPIT and Vice Chairman of CIETAC Lu Pengqi, Assistant Minister of the Ministry of Commerce (MOFCOM) Li Chenggang, and President of All China Lawyers Association (ACLA) Wang Junfeng attended and addressed the opening ceremony. Vice Chairman and Secretary General of CIETAC Wang Chengjie hosted the opening ceremony.

Director of Expert Advisory Committee and Honorary Arbitrator of CIETAC Fei Zongyi, Chief Judge of the Fourth Civil Division of the SPC Zhang Yongjian, Director-general of the Law Department of the Ministry of Justice Huang Yi, Director of the Department of Complaints and Coordination of Taiwan Affairs Office of the State Council Wang Gang, Deputy Director-General of Department of Treaty and Law of MOFCOM Li Yongjie, and Deputy Director of China Securities Regulatory Commission Liu Fuhua attended the opening ceremony.

Chief Justice of the Dubai International Financial Centre (DIFC) Courts Mr. Michael Hwang, UNCITRAL Regional Head for Asia and the Pacific Mr. João RIBEIRO-BIDAOUI, President of the ICC International Court of Arbitration Mr. Alexis Mourre, Ex-Chairman of SCC Mr. Johan Gernandt, Ex-President of Hong Kong International Arbitration Center Ms. Teresa Cheng, President of CAA Li Fudian, Honorary President of CAA Li Nianzu, and senior independent Arbitrator Yang Liangyi, attended or spoke at the Summit. Over 400 guests from arbitration institutions at home and abroad, as well as judges, arbitrators, legal experts, lawyers and people from business community attended the Summit. 

(Member of the SPC Judicial Committee Liu Guixiang delivered a speech at the opening ceremony)

Member of the SPC Judicial Committee Liu Guixiang said in his speech that, in the past year, in accordance with the important arrangement to “improve arbitration system and its credibility” in the Fourth Plenary Session of the 18th CPC Central Committee, the SPC made great efforts to establish the arbitration-friendly judicial review environment and respectively published “Provisions on Several Issues in Handling of Property Preservation Cases by People’s Court” “Judicial Opinions on Providing Judicial Safeguard for Pilot Free Trade Zone Construction ” “Opinion on the people’s courts more deeply reforming the diversified dispute resolution mechanism” and “Notification of issues in the judicial review of arbitration cases”. He also noted that the SPC will continuously support the development of China’s arbitration cause and create a stable, fair, transparent and predicable legal environment, making further contribution to the development of arbitration, legal fairness and the advancement of global rule of law.

(Vice Chairman of CCPIT and Vice Chairman of CIETAC Lu Pengqi addressed at the opening ceremony.)

Vice Chairman Lu Pengqi said in his speech that international arbitration has reached the fresh record high level along with the deepening of the international economic globalization and the implementation of China’s “Belt and Road” Initiative. He also stressed that Internet technology shall be utilized in international arbitration to create an ‘Internet Plus’ mode and explore an online mechanism for dispute settlement, so as to provide a convenient, flexible and efficient service platform in the dispute settlement process. Studies on IPR arbitration shall be conducted and IPR arbitration information exchange and handling platform shall be established, contributing to the protection of intelligence across the world. Lu hoped that international arbitration and business community would foster exchange and cooperation to promote the widespread use of international arbitration in PPP.

(Assistant Minister of the MOFCOM Li Chenggang made a speech at the opening ceremony)

Assistant Minister of the MOFCOM Li Chenggang noted, China’s arbitration practice faced precious opportunities by favor of the new situation under “Belt and Road” Initiative. He pointed out that we need to cultivate more Chinese arbitration talents with global vision so as to push forward the internationalization of China’s arbitration theoretical research and practice. He hoped that CIETAC could continuously serve its role as the ‘pacesetter’ of China’s arbitration cause, contributing to its internationalization process.

(President of All China Lawyers Association (ACLA) Wang Junfeng addressed the opening ceremony)

President of ACLA Wang Junfeng said, we should expedite the process of making China’s international commercial arbitration system in lines with international rules, optimize the “Belt and Road” legal environment to enhance the global influence of China’s arbitration institutions and guide the investment equities to tailor make a dispute settlement mechanism by arbitration at the initiation of projects. Wang added, Chinese lawyers are willing to cooperate with CIETAC and other arbitration institutions to provide multilayer legal services in the “Belt and Road” construction.

(Vice Chairman and Secretary General of CIETAC Wang Chengjie hosted the opening ceremony and delivered the speech at the closing ceremony)

(China Arbitration Summit site)

21 guest speakers were invited to address the summit. The four major topics for discussion included “security and innovation-the judicial and arbitration environment in the ‘Belt and Road’ construction”, “opportunities and challenges-‘Belt and Road’ construction and international investment arbitration”, “integration and communication-new tendency and new hot topic about the development of commercial arbitration”, and “economic and trade cooperation-legal risks and its prevention for Chinese companies when going global”. They also made in-depth discussions about the related issues in the one- day meeting.

(From top to bottom, from left to right are: Chief Judge of the Fourth Civil Division of the SPC Zhang Yongjian, Presiding Judge of the Fourth Civil Division of the SPC Ren Xuefeng, Deputy Chief Judge of the Fourth Civil Division of Shandong High People's Court Fu Benchao, and Presiding Judge of the Fourth Civil Division of the SPC Shen Hongyu)

(From top to bottom, from left to right are, Chief Justice of the DIFC Courts Michael Hwang, UNCITRAL Regional Head for Asia and the Pacific João RIBEIRO-BIDAOUI, Managing Partner of Dechert LLP Tao Jingzhou, and President of the ICC International Court of Arbitration Alexis Mourre)

"Belt and Road” is an important initiative announced by President Xi Jinping under the theme of “Peace, Development, Cooperation and Win-Win” in the new age background. With the acceleration of the ‘Belt and Road’ construction, building a sound judicial and arbitration environment is an important issue drawing widespread attention of China’s arbitration community. The Summit themed on judicial and arbitration environment construction under the ‘Belt and Road’ background, implementing the ‘Belt and Road’ initiative, and providing quick and efficient arbitration service for enterprises along the ‘Belt and Road’ countries.

(From top to bottom, from left to right are, Professor of Law School of Tsinghua University Yang Guohua, Deputy Director-general of Department of Treaty and Law of MOFCOM Li Yongjie, Vice President of the Arbitration Court of CIETAC Zhao Jian, Assistant President of Xi'an Jiaotong University Shan Wenhua, Partner of Shearman & Sterling LLP Emmanuel Jacomy, and Barrister Teresa Cheng)

As an increasing number of Chinese enterprises choose to seek development abroad, outbound trade and investment events have become more frequent. More professional, global, and convenient arbitration services for investment disputes are required when investing in the countries along the “Belt and Road” route to better safeguard the lawful interests of enterprises. International investment arbitration is a major way of settling disputes between investors and host states. However, China’s arbitration institutions have yet had any practical experience in investment dispute settlement, nor there be any arbitration rules applicable to the settlement of international investment disputes. “Investment Arbitration Rules” were issued by CIETAC on September 19 and will come into force on October 1. This Summit specially designed the related topics on the “Belt and Road” and international investment arbitration and introduced how CIETAC drafted its “Investment Arbitration Rules” and its content. Experts, scholars and legal professionals from the area of international investment arbitration were invited to have in-depth discussion on that topic.

(From top to bottom, from left to right are, Partner of Global Law Office Xing Xiusong, Ex-Chairman of SCC Johan Gernandt, Honorary President of CAA Li Nianzu, Secretary General of CIETAC/CMAC Hong Kong Arbitration Center Wang Wenying, and Partner of BCH Lawyers Duarte G. Henriques)

International commercial arbitration is widely applied in the international communication, economic and trade activities, gaining recognition and trust from parties from more and more countries and regions, revealing unprecedented prosperity. With the rapid growth of international commercial arbitration, many kinds of new issues, hot topics and theories sprung up, attracting widespread attention and discussion from international arbitration community. Leaders from well-known arbitration institutions at home and abroad, and lawyers from famous international law firms shared their views on cutting edge topics in international commercial arbitration, so as to promote the deep integration and communication between domestic and international arbitration community.

(From top to bottom, from left to right are, The Founder of Lantai Partners Yang Guang, Senior independent Arbitrator Yang Liangyi, General Counsel of China Railway Group Ltd. Yu Tengqun, General Counsel of China State Construction Engineering Corp. Ltd. Qin Yuxiu, Chief Legal Officer of Shanghai Electric Group Company Ltd. Tong Liping, and Senior Director of Alibaba Group’s Legal Department Shen Kai)

Business experts were also invited to attend this Summit, and had a wide-ranging discussion on potential legal risks and its prevention in the “going global” process of Chinese enterprises. Speakers provided professional legal advices and suggestions on outbound investment to enterprises, based on Chinese enterprises’ experiences and lessons in international arbitrations.

The one-day meeting came to the end after heated discussions. On the closing ceremony, Vice Chairman and Secretary-General WANG delivered a closing speech. He concluded the Summit’s fruitful achievements, and pointed out the importance of credibility as the spirit and core value in arbitration. He hoped that arbitration community at home and abroad shall made joint efforts to improve international arbitration’s role in the ‘Belt and Road’ construction. Deputy Secretary-General of CIETAC Li Hu hosted the closing ceremony.

(Deputy Secretary-General of CIETAC Li Hu hosted the closing ceremony)

In the Summit, the experts combined the advanced theories and practice with China’s arbitration practice, had active discussions and fruitful communications on hot issues concerning international arbitration community under the background of the ‘Belt and Road’ Initiative and Chinese enterprises’ going out process. They agreed on further pushing forward the development of China’s arbitration, improvement of international commercial arbitration communication, and the strengthening of international arbitration cooperation.

(China Arbitration Summit Site)

This Summit was very fruitful and achieved a great success.