China-ASEAN Commercial Law Forum is to be held in Nanning in September
Autumn is in full beauty, and the grand event is set to take place as planned. The 23rd China-ASEAN Business and Investment Summit (CABIS) will be held in Nanning. As an important parallel forum of the CABIS, China-ASEAN Commercial Law Forum (hereinafter referred to as the Forum) will be held in Nanning on September 18. With the theme of “New Pathways for Commercial Law Cooperation between Hong Kong SAR and ASEAN”, the Forum will make innovative explorations into the Cross-Regional Collaborative Development Mechanism for the Greater Bay Area-Guangxi-ASEAN and feature concurrent supporting activities including International Dispute Resolution Seminar and ASEAN Legal Practice Exchange Conference, bringing together legal officials, business representatives, legal experts and scholars, as well as representatives of legal service institutions from China and ASEAN countries to jointly explore new models for cross-border rule-of-law cooperation. The Forum boasts four major highlights.
Leveraging Hong Kong’s Unique Strengths to Expand Cross border Rule of law Cooperation Channels
Under the framework of “One Country, Two Systems”, Hong Kong is China’s only jurisdiction practicing common law in both Chinese and English. With its legal system highly aligned with internationally-accepted rules and abundant legal service resources, it serves as a vital two-way professional service platform for Chinese enterprises going global and ASEAN enterprises coming into China. Centering on the three main threads of “Rule-of-Law Linkage between Hong Kong and ASEAN, Rule-of-Law Safeguards for the Pinglu Canal, and Integration of Artificial Intelligence and Legal Services”, the Forum will collaborate with the Hong Kong International Legal Talents Training Academy, Department of Justice of Hong Kong, and the International Organization for Mediation, to innovatively adopts a new-model framework of “International Forum + Legal Seminar + Practical Exchange”. Specifically, the Forum features presentations of innovative viewpoints, the seminar prioritizes training for foreign-related professionals, and the exchange activities are oriented toward improving practical capabilities. Through a suite of supporting events, the Forum will explore the establishment of a brand-new service system featuring “Hong Kong’s rule-of-law practices + Guangxi’s integrated platforms + ASEAN-oriented cooperative applications”. By drawing on the proven practical experience in commercial legal services of Hong Kong and the Guangdong-Hong Kong-Macao Greater Bay Area, and leveraging Guangxi’s unique geographical advantages toward ASEAN as well as its commercial-law cooperation platforms, the Forum will advance the alignment of commercial and economic-trade rules with ASEAN Member States. It will facilitate the expansion of Hong Kong’s commercial legal services into ASEAN via the Nanning Channel, further enhance the outcomes and influence of the Forum, support Guangxi in developing itself into a preferred destination for cross-border commercial dispute resolution serving ASEAN, and deliver solid rule-of-law underpinning for the development of the Pinglu Canal Economic Belt and the province’s high-level opening-up, so as to realize targeted matching between Hong Kong’s strengths in legal services and the market demands of ASEAN.
Multiple institutional outcomes delivered to enhance the supply of foreign-related legal services
To boost its practical impact, the Forum pursues not only rule-related deliberations and theoretical exchanges but also tangible outcomes that address corporate needs and underpin institutional opening-up. It has helped materialize a host of institutional results, lending robust support to the development and roll-out of the model of “rule-of-law practices in the Guangdong-Hong Kong-Macao Greater Bay Area + Guangxi integration + ASEAN application”. This has yielded a replicable and scalable “Guangxi Model”. During this Forum, a set of commercial legal service outputs focusing on corporate concerns and addressing demands in emerging sectors will be unveiled. First, efforts will be made to set up Intellectual Property Alternative Dispute Resolution Alliance for ASEAN and Pinglu Canal On-Water One-Stop Alternative Dispute Resolution Center, and proactively establish a collaborative mechanism for the efficient resolution of cross-border intellectual property disputes, as well as a one-stop service platform for maritime disputes including ship collisions, cargo losses and seafarers’ labor-related disputes. Second, a batch of practical guidance documents will be released, covering areas of corporate concern such as ASEAN-related intellectual property protection, coordinated resolution of cross-border commercial disputes, and AI compliance governance, alongside judicial references including Collection of Typical Cases: People’s Courts Serving and Safeguarding the Development of the ØNew International Land-Sea Trade Corridor. These documents offer clear and predictable guidance for enterprises conducting cross-border operations. Third, Guangxi will sign multiple cooperation agreements with legal professional institutions in Hong Kong and ASEAN to deepen collaboration in arbitration, mediation, notarization and other fields. This will foster the aggregation of international oriented legal service resources in Guangxi and steadily enhance its capacity to deliver foreign related legal services for ASEAN. In addition, the Forum will continue to showcase practical outcomes of artificial intelligence applied in commercial legal fields, including cutting-edge technologies such as intelligent contract review, cross-border legal consultation and legal big-data analysis, demonstrating the latest progress of legal technology in empowering foreign-related rule-of-law development.
Centering on the Development of the Pilot Free Trade Area 3.0, in–depth discussions on cutting–edge topics
2026 marks the fifth anniversary of the establishment of the China-ASEAN Comprehensive Strategic Partnership and a crucial year for the roll-out and implementation of the China-ASEAN Free Trade Area 3.0. As a backbone project of the New International Land-Sea Trade Corridor and a landmark initiative for building China into a country with strong transportation network, the Pinglu Canal, upon completion, will create the shortest, most cost-effective and most convenient sea-access route for Southwest China. It will unlock new development opportunities for logistics, cross-border trade, digital industries and cross-border rule alignment under the New International Land-Sea Trade Corridor. Meanwhile, practical challenges including substantial disparities in commercial legal systems across countries, high costs for cross-border dispute settlement, and under-developed compliance rules for new-form digital businesses remain prominent obstacles to enterprises’ cross-border operations.
Leveraging Hong Kong’s strengths in international legal services, this forum will explore new avenues for practical cooperation between the legal communities of Hong Kong and ASEAN around such themes as cross-border commercial dispute resolution, rule alignment and practical collaboration. At the Expert Speeches session, top-tier legal experts from home and abroad will conduct in-depth exchanges on “New Pathways for Commercial Law Cooperation between Hong Kong SAR and ASEAN”. The participants include scholars of private international law, AI compliance governance specialists, representatives from the Hague Conference on Private International Law, heads of ASEAN-based arbitration institutions, and legal practitioners in the Greater Bay Area. They will share practical experience from perspectives including cross-border investment risk prevention and control, digital trade compliance, and hands-on international dispute resolution, and explore viable pathways for rule alignment under the China-ASEAN Free Trade Area Version 3.0 and institutional-opening-up. The ASEAN Legal Practice Exchange Conference will focus on cutting-edge topics such as the integration of artificial intelligence and law. Participants will exchange insights on AI-powered legal services and relevant ASEAN practical experience to help optimize the regional business environment. Meanwhile, the Hong Kong International Legal Talents Training Academy will launch for the first time in Nanning its Hong Kong International Legal Talents Training Programme—International Dispute Resolution Seminar. Invited experts from relevant international organizations will share cutting-edge concepts, so as to deepen cooperation between Hong Kong and Guangxi in foreign-related legal talent development and enhance regional capacity for dispute resolution services.
Deepening Regional Rule-of-Law Cooperation, Consolidating the Foundation for Long-term Win-win Outcomes
For more than a decade, the Forum has continuously advanced regional institutional-opening-up and facilitated the establishment of physical platforms including China-ASEAN Free Trade Area Nanning International Commercial Tribunal, the China-ASEAN Commercial Arbitration Cooperation Center in Guangxi. It has yielded dozens of region-first achievements in commercial legal services. Centering on cross-border legal risk prevention and control, the Forum has boosted commercial-legal mutual trust across the region, effectively reduced institutional transaction costs for regional trade and investment, and delivered solid rule-of-law support for regional economic and trade cooperation.
Aligned with the theme of “CAFTA 3.0 Opportunities, Better Life”, and anchored in the CABIS’s core mission of supporting CAFTA development by targeting the key requirements for the implementation of CAFTA 3.0, the Forum will further upgrade its service capacity. In terms of cross-regional rule-of-law collaboration, it will continue to build regular rule-of-law dialogue channels linking the Guangdong-Hong Kong-Macao Greater Bay Area, Guangxi and ASEAN to respond to the demand for high-level regional opening-up and cooperation. On digital legal services, it will hold discussions on cutting-edge issues including cross-border data flows and intellectual property rights for generative AI, to underpin the coordinated development of new-quality productive forces across the region and boost industrial innovation. In serving national strategies, it will advance the efficient operation of the “one-stop” maritime dispute-resolution centre for the Pinglu Canal. It will deliver tailored legal services for enterprises along the Canal, address common concerns of the business community, and provide solid rule-of-law safeguards for regional economic and trade integration.
In September, we will convene in Nanning to discuss cooperation and envision a shared future. The Forum will take it as a new starting point to deepen regional rule-of-law cooperation, and yield solid tangible results for new pathways for commercial-legal cooperation between Hong Kong and ASEAN. The Forum will contribute rule-of-law support to the high-quality implementation of the China-ASEAN Free Trade Area 3.0 and the steady and sound development of the Belt and Road Initiative, and help forge an even closer China-ASEAN community with a shared future.
