The Online Seminar on the Construction of Regional Arbitration Centers, organized by CASS Institute of International Law, was successfully held on July 24, 2020. The seminar was presided over by Ms. Mao Xiaofei, an associate research fellow at CASS Institute of International Law, and attended by experts from the arbitration commissions in the cities of Chongqing, Xi’an, Qingdao and Harbin.
At the beginning of the seminar, Professor Mo Jihong, Director of CASS Institute of International Law, gave an opening speech, in which he pointed out that strengthening the construction of the rule of law the international law system is the inevitable requirement of the strategy of advancing the rule of law in an all-round way. In April 2019, the General Office of the CPC Central Committee and the General Office of the State Council jointly issued the Opinions on Improving the Arbitration System and Enhancing Arbitral Credibility, which clearly demand the construction of arbitration organs with international influence. Therefore, how to resolve investment and trade disputes by relying on the existing arbitration law and how to raise the international influence of Chinese arbitration organs have become an important research subject of Chinese legal scholars.
Next, Mr. Zhang Cunyuan, Chief Representative and Deputy Head of China Office of Singapore International Arbitration Center (SIAC), gave a keynote speech on “how to construction an international arbitration center”. In the speech, he shared the Singaporean experience in the construction of international arbitration center from the perspectives of the state, the locality of arbitration and the arbitral organ. He pointed out that the main reasons that Singapore has become an international arbitration center are: first, its excellent geographic location and business environment; second, its legislative, judicial, personnel and infrastructural advantages as a locality of arbitration; and third, the first-class arbitral service provided by SIAC to its clients throughout the world.
After the keynote speech, the participants carried out discussion on the advanced experience of SIAC and its significance to the construction of regional arbitration centers in China. They pointed out that in recent years China has made rapid progress in the development of the arbitration undertaking, while at the same time also faced with such problems as lack of influence and international competitiveness, support and safeguard. The advanced experience of Singapore and SIAC is of great reference value to China in the construction of regional arbitration centers.
