Belt and Road Initiative: signing of Hong Kong Manifesto by 38 legal groups from 23 countries/regions

This morning, I attended and gave a speech at the Belt and Road Conference hosted by the Law Society of Hong Kong in celebration of its 110th anniversary. A Hong Kong Manifesto was signed between the Law Society of Hong Kong and 37 legal groups from 22 countries/regions at the Conference, highlighting Hong Kong’s role as a key link and "super-connector" for the Belt and Road.

As stated in the Hong Kong Manifesto signed today - the next 12 months will see the dawning of a new era for the legal profession along the Belt and Road. The Belt and Road Initiative will generate tremendous economic activities in a great number of jurisdictions, bringing about huge demand for legal services.

Embracing some 60 countries with a population of 4.4 billion, the Belt and Road Initiative will involve quite a lot of legal services, such as formulation of cross-border commercial contracts; fundraising of large-scale cross-border infrastructure, arrangement of construction contracts, resolution of cross-border legal disputes, cross-border taxation laws, maritime law and its dispute resolution. All these have been covered in today’s Conference.

The Belt and Road Initiative will bring ample career development opportunities for Hong Kong’s young legal professionals, just as what the Mainland’s reform and opening-up have brought to our generation’s legal professionals in the past 30 years or so.

A bilingual copy of the Hong Kong Manifesto signed today is attached.

Attachment: Bilingual copy of the Hong Kong Manifesto

May 12, 2017