On January 8, the China International Economic and Trade Arbitration Commission (“CIETAC”) Ningbo Trial Center was officially unveiled and launched in Ningbo City, Zhejiang Province. This is not only an important measure of CIETAC to implement the national opening-up strategy and deepen its commitment to contributing to the local economic development, but also a practical move to improve Ningbo's foreign-related dispute resolution mechanism, empower enterprises' international development with professional arbitration services, and help Ningbo develop into a hub city for opening-up.

Concurrent with the inauguration, CIETAC, in conjunction with the China Council for the Promotion of International Trade(“CCPIT”) Ningbo Committee, co-hosted the " Ningbo Connects the Globe · Arbitration Safeguards Voyage" docking event for Ningbo enterprises' international development.

Wang Chengjie, Vice-Chairman & Secretary-General of CIETAC, Ye Miao, Member of the Party Group of Ningbo Municipal Government and Director of Ningbo Economic and Technological Development Zone, Du Qian, Secretary of the Party Leadership Group and Acting President of Ningbo Intermediate People's Court, Xu Xiaochang, Deputy Secretary-General of Ningbo Municipal People's Government, Chen Dajie, Director of Ningbo Municipal Bureau of Justice, Yan Weiguo, Chairman of CCPIT Ningbo Committee, Xu Xianghong, Chief Judge of the Fourth Civil Division of Zhejiang Higher People's Court, and Fu Yong, Vice President of Ningbo Intermediate People's Court, attended the event.

The event was hosted by Xia Qun, Vice President, Deputy Secretary of the Party Leadership Group and Second-Class Inspector of CCPIT Ningbo Committee.

Leaders from the Political and Legal Affairs Commission of Ningbo Municipal Party Committee, the Reform Office of the Ningbo Municipal Committee of the Communist Party of China, the Supervision and Justice Work Committee of the Ningbo Municipal People's Congress, and the Municipal Bureau of Commerce of Ningbo, as well as over 200 representatives from universities, enterprises, law firms, arbitration and mediation institutions, participated in the event.

 (Event)

In his address, Secretary-General Wang Chengjie pointed out that as an important pivot city of the Belt and Road Initiative and as the frontier for opening-up, Ningbo boasts a solid manufacturing foundation and prominent advantages, with new industries such as cross-border e-commerce and multimodal transport developing vigorously with strong momentum.

Addressing various issues encountered by enterprises in the process of internationalization, he put forward constructive suggestions on promoting the arbitration mechanism to better play its role in safeguarding enterprises' "going global" from four aspects: arbitration empowering industrial upgrades and defying obstacles for "Ningbo Standards" to go global; arbitration addressing pain points in new industries and building a risk defense line for the development of new industries; arbitration assisting in compliance system construction through and improving enterprises' ability to protect their rights overseas; and arbitration deepening multi-party linkage and building a coordinated service ecosystem of "enterprise - arbitration - government".

Secretary-General Wang Chengjie emphasized that the inauguration of CIETAC Ningbo Trial Center is not an end, but a starting point. In the future, CIETAC will take this Center as an important pivot, continue to alleviate burdens and enhance empowerment for Ningbo enterprises' international development with professional legal forces, and contribute solid arbitration wisdom and strength to Ningbo's efforts in building a hub city for opening-up and serving the high-quality joint construction of the Belt and Road Initiative (BRI).

(Secretary General Wang Chengjie Delivering an Address)

In her address, Director Ye Miao pointed out that Ningbo has always regarded the construction of foreign-related rule of law as an important support for opening-up.

Through measures such as building a foreign-related legal service agglomeration area and an "one-stop" service platform, it has constructed a "doorstep" foreign-related legal service circle.

The inauguration of CIETAC Ningbo Trial center will further improve Ningbo's international commercial dispute resolution system, help build Ningbo into a preferred place for international commercial dispute resolution, and provide more solid legal protection for enterprises' cross-border operations.

(Director Ye Miao Delivering an Address)

Acting President Du Qian stated that as a world-top arbitration institution, CIETAC's introduction of world-class arbitration services to Ningbo will greatly enhance the region's ability to respond to international economic and trade risks.

Ningbo Intermediate People's Court will deepen cooperation with CIETAC Ningbo Trial Center, promote information sharing, procedural interconnection and resource integration, and jointly provide diversified and precise dispute resolution solutions to empower high-level opening-up and high-quality development.

(President Du Qian Delivering an Address)

On site, relevant participating leaders jointly unveiled the CIETAC Ningbo Trial Center, marking the official launch of this international commercial dispute resolution service platform that radiates the Yangtze River Delta and connects the Belt and Road.

It will build a professional arbitration platform for Ningbo enterprises to resolve international economic and trade disputes at their doorstep, introduce more high-quality international legal resources, and support the development of Ningbo's foreign-related legal service cluster.

(From left to right: Xu Xianghong, Chief Judge of Fourth Civil Division of Zhejiang Higher People's Court; Chen Dajie, Director of Ningbo Municipal Bureau of Justice; Wang Chengjie, Vice Chairman & Secretary General of CIETAC; Xu Xiaochang, Deputy Secretary General of Ningbo Municipal Government; Yan Weiguo, Chairman of CCPIT Ningbo Committee; Fu Yong, Vice President of Ningbo Intermediate People's Court)

Subsequently, CCPIT Ningbo Committee released model clauses for the diversified resolution of international commercial disputes in foreign trade and economic contracts, further providing new guarantees and impetus for enterprises' international operations.

(Launch of Model Clauses)

The event included a keynote speech session. With the theme of "Safeguarding Enterprises' Going Global with High-Quality Justice", Chief Judge Xu Xianghong shared Zhejiang's practical experience in building a preferred place for international commercial and maritime dispute resolution and suggestions on enterprise’s building of the compliance system for going global.

(Chief Judge Xu Xianghong Delivering a Keynote Speech)

The roundtable discussion session was hosted by Lu Fei, Director of the Business Development Division and Secretary-General of the European Arbitration Centre of CIETAC. Focusing on the core topic of "New Paths for Dispute Resolution in Enterprises' International Development", participating experts conducted in-depth and professional analysis and discussions from multiple perspectives of the courts, arbitrators, enterprises and lawyers, focusing on various challenges faced by enterprises going global, the unique advantages of the arbitration mechanism and strategies for selecting arbitration institutions, collided with many practical insights.

(From left to right: Lu Fei, Director of the Business Development Division and Secretary-General of the European Arbitration Centre of CIETAC; Li Yun, Secretary General of both the CIETAC Shanghai Sub-Commission and the CIETAC Zhejiang Sub-Commission; Sun Bin, Chief Judge of the International Commercial Court of Ningbo Intermediate People's Court; Xu Lihua, Chairman of the Ningbo Lawyers Association and CIETAC Arbitrator; Weng Guomin, Director of the Institute of Law and Economics of Zhejiang University and CIETAC Arbitrator; Wang Xiaonan, Legal Director of Alibaba Group and CIETAC Arbitrator; Tian Lihong, Legal Director of AUX Group)

At the end of the event, Yan Weiguo, Chairman of CCPIT Ningbo committee, delivered a closing speech.

He stated that taking the inauguration of CIETAC Ningbo Trial Center as the starting point, CCPIT Ningbo will serve the big cause of Ningbo's global-facing economy development with high quality, safeguard the legitimate rights and interests of enterprises' international operations, build a multi-party cooperation and linkage mechanism, and assist Ningbo in building a high-momentum and strongly global-facing city.

(Chairman Yan Weiguo Delivering a Closing Speech)

The establishment of CIETAC Ningbo Trial Center and the successful conclusion of this event have built a multi-party linkage cooperation platform, which will surely empower the development of the global-facing economy in Ningbo and even the Yangtze River Delta region, and safeguard enterprises' cross-border operations, regional foreign-related rule of law construction and high-quality economic and trade development.