On January 18, the Opening Ceremony of CIETAC Jiangsu Arbitration Center was held in Nanjing. Vice Chairman of CCPIT Lu Pengqi and Vice Governor of Jiangsu Province Chen Zhenning addressed the ceremony.

In the speech, Vice Chairman of CCPIT Lu Pengqi pointed out that with the advancing of Belt and Road Initiative and the promoting of the formation of a comprehensive and open new pattern, enterprises’ pace of going global has been faster and more companies realize the importance of arbitration in dispute resolution, which further highlights the role of arbitration. It agrees with the economic development strategy of Jiangsu Province and provides important supporting measures for the construction of business environment there to develop facilitated, professional and international commercial arbitration services in Jiangsu Province, where there is fast-developing economy, high standards of openness, strong vigor of development, and dynamic trade and investment activities.. Lu also said that, by establishing the Jiangsu Arbitration Center, CIETAC, as the founder and pioneer of Chinese foreign-related arbitration, will bring its years of successful experiences in case management and its business resources to Jiangsu; CIETAC will also provide high-quality, efficient and convenient arbitration services to enterprises in Jiangsu and its surrounding areas for their foreign trade and investment cooperation, give full play of its public legal service function, and exert positive effects on the legal construction of Jiangsu Province. Lu emphasized that the CIETAC Jiangsu Arbitration Center will increase communication and cooperation with local arbitration institutions in Jiangsu Province, make progress hand in hand, and together guide enterprises to refer to arbitration in resolving their disputes, so as to reach win-win results with mutual benefits, establish an international, legal and convenient business environment for all concerned parties, and give supports and contributions to the development of the open economy of Jiangsu Province.

Vice Governor of Jiangsu Province Chen Zhenning expressed congratulations to the opening of the CIETAC Jiangsu Arbitration Center on behalf of the Provincial Government. Chen said that the openness is one of the distinct characteristics of Jiangsu Province’s economy. In recent years, with the in-depth advancing of Belt and Road Initiative, the new system of open economy has been gradually improved, the number of foreign enterprises in Jiangsu Province has increased, the scale of foreign investment has expanded, the economic and trade disputes have grew, and the demands for foreign-related commercial legal services has boosted increasingly. Developing high-level and professional foreign-related economic and trade arbitration services, is important for protecting foreign enterprises and foreign investment, and promoting sound and standardized development of foreign investment cooperation in Jiangsu Province; and is a specific measures to implement the spirit of the 19th CPC National Congress, i.e., “developing new ways of making outbound investments and building up strengths for international economic cooperation and competition”. Chen pointed out that the establishment of the CIETAC Jiangsu Arbitration Center, will greatly complement each other's advantages with win-win developments, and has significant importance in actively participating in the top-level design of Chinese arbitration system, increasing degrees of economic openness, improving the legalization of the business environment, and perfecting market credit system.

CIETAC Vice Chairman and Secretary-General Wang Chengjie announced the opening of the CIETAC Jiangsu Arbitration Center. Deputy Director of Internal Division of the Standing Committee of Jiangsu Province Gu Hanping, Deputy Secretary-General of Jiangsu Provincial Government Fang Wei, Director of the Commerce Department of Jiangsu Province Ma Minglong, Deputy Director of the Economic Committee of the CPPCC Da Jiaxiang, Chairman of the Board of the Nanjing Chapter of the European Union Chamber of Commerce in China Wei Bo, Chief Representative of Netherlands Business Support Office Nanjing Lan Fengci, and nearly 100 representatives from legal and business communities, relevant departments of Jiangsu Province, and foreign institutions in Nanjing attended the opening ceremony. 

During the event, a symposium on international arbitration was held by the CIETAC Jiangsu Arbitration Center. CIETAC senior arbitrator Wang Xuehua interpreted on the major problems and risks that Chinese parties encountered in international commercial dispute resolutions, as well as corresponding countermeasures. He also introduced his experiences on the hotspot issues in international commercial arbitration including the cross-examination of witnesses. The participants had heated discussions and communications.