Chinese, ASEAN legal experts discuss legal exchanges, cooperation

More than 100 legal experts and practitioners from China and nine ASEAN member states have gathered in Nanning, capital of south China's Guangxi Zhuang Autonomous Region, Thursday to attend a China-ASEAN forum on legal cooperation and development.

The forum, the first of its kind, is sponsored by the China Law Society (CLS).

During the three-day session, participants will discuss such topics as the roles of laws, policies and legal cooperation in the process of building a China-ASEAN free trade area (FTA), and the application of the Framework Agreement on Dispute Resolution Mechanism in China-ASEAN FTA.

The participants will also sign a declaration at the end of the forum to boost future Sino-ASEAN legal exchanges and cooperation.

Addressing the opening ceremony, CLS President Han Zhubin said that China and ASEAN have steadily advanced their relations in recent years. The bilateral cooperation in the fields of trade, economy and culture has been expanded. The two sides still enjoy huge potential in other fields such as politics and law, he said.

"The deepening of China-ASEAN comprehensive cooperation also brings some legal problems, which require further exchanges between the legal circles of both sides." Han said.

He said he believes the forum will become an active force in promoting the improvement of the China-ASEAN dispute resolution mechanism, and facilitating legal research of countries in the region.

Pham Quoc Anh, president of Vietnam Lawyers' Association, said China is an important trading partner of the ASEAN. "The mutual understanding of each other's laws is the foundation of stable cooperation between the two sides," he said.

Participants will also get a chance to contemplate problems of mutual interests face-to-face in a legal consultative activity Thursday afternoon.

A legal culture square will be unveiled Friday on the sidelines of the forum to mark the first China-ASEAN forum on legal cooperation and development. Sculptures of legendary creatures from China and ten ASEAN countries will be put on it.

Source: Xinhua