[Explanation] The National "14th Five-Year Plan" clearly supports Hong Kong's development as an "Asia-Pacific Region International Law and Dispute Resolution Service Center". The "Comprehensive Deepening of the Reform and Opening Plan of Qianhai Shenzhen-Hong Kong Modern Service Industry Cooperation Zone" is the law of the Guangdong-Hong Kong-Macao Greater Bay Area Cooperation injects new opportunities.
Faced with the opportunities provided by national policies, Zheng Ruohua, the Secretary of Justice of the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region Government, said in an interview recently that the most important thing for Hong Kong is to play its role as a bridge and promote legal exchanges between the Mainland and the world.
[Concurrent] Zheng Ruohua, Secretary of Justice of the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region Government
In our "14th Five-Year Plan", Hong Kong is to be built into a "major international legal and dispute resolution service center in the Asia-Pacific region". We hope to implement this measure from several points.
Regarding arbitration, we in Hong Kong issued a report in 2021, and we are ranked third among the most popular arbitration venues in the world.
Hong Kong has some experience in international mediation, and we have done a lot of training in international investment mediation. These are related trainings in cooperation with the World Bank and the United Nations Conference on Trade and Development, so we hope to be able to Through these strengthening our own capabilities, in this way, we can cooperate with the task given to us by the country, and also give play to our work in this area.
[Explanation] Regarding the opportunities for Guangdong-Hong Kong-Macao legal cooperation, Zheng Ruohua believes that the Guangdong-Hong Kong-Macao Greater Bay Area is "one country, two systems, and three jurisdictions", and the "Qianhai" cooperation zone is a new pilot. We can discuss the convergence of cross-border laws and regulations. .
[Concurrent] Zheng Ruohua, Secretary of Justice of the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region Government
Let me talk about rules convergence first.
The Greater Bay Area is "one country, two systems, and three jurisdictions." "Qianhai" is a new pilot. Therefore, we can do some good discussions on the convergence of rules.
What I often talk about is "Hong Kong capital, Hong Kong law and Hong Kong arbitration". We have some preliminary ideas about this. We will continue to discuss with "Qianhai", and will also focus on our Hong Kong lawyers’ practice examinations in the Greater Bay Area. Combining it with the work of Hong Kong, it will better promote Hong Kong’s participation in the Greater Bay Area and cooperation in the "Qianhai".
[Explanation] The Mainland and Hong Kong signed the "Arrangement on Mutual Assistance in the Preservation of Arbitration Procedures between the Mainland and Hong Kong Special Administrative Region Courts" in 2019, and reached a cross-border bankruptcy and debt restructuring cooperation mechanism in May 2021.
Zheng Ruohua said that these measures promote the effective connection of the civil and commercial litigation systems between the Mainland and Hong Kong, and provide important assistance for the construction of judicial services in the Guangdong-Hong Kong-Macao Greater Bay Area.
[Concurrent] Zheng Ruohua, Secretary of Justice of the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region Government
Our civil and commercial legal assistance, civil and commercial judicial assistance and exchanges are very important. In our experience, many times we are exposed to cases in Qianhai, Shenzhen, because Qianhai handles Hong Kong-related cases. There are a lot of cases. There are actually three pilot projects for bankruptcy and debt restructuring: Shanghai, Xiamen, and Shenzhen, so Shenzhen is just right, that is, we can learn from the "Qianhai" program, and we can do it. Better.
[Explanation] Zheng Ruohua pointed out that the expansion of Qianhai will create more opportunities for the Hong Kong legal profession, especially in terms of law and dispute resolution. The measures proposed in the "Qianhai" plan can be summarized as exploring and improving the "Hong Kong-owned Hong Kong Law" "Hong Kong Arbitration" has established a new mechanism for civil and commercial judicial assistance and exchanges, deepened the reform of the "partnership joint operation" mechanism, supported and encouraged the establishment of representative offices, and jointly developed international commercial dispute resolution services.
She said that the Department of Justice will continue to explore and improve relevant enforcement mechanisms with relevant mainland authorities, and explore the convergence of different legal systems and cross-border legal rules to further facilitate the assistance and exchanges of all parties.
Reporter Liang Yuan from Hong Kong
Editor in charge: [Ji Xiang]