On 12 December 2017, CRCICA organized a significant conference on: The Belt and Road Initiative: Economic Legal Landscape and Dispute Settlement in collaboration with the Beijing International Arbitration Center (BIAC) and the Kuala Lumpur Regional Centre for Arbitration ( now the Asian International Arbitration Centre “AIAC”). The conference was sponsored by Shahid Law Firm. Institutional supporters were TEDA Suez, Al Tamimi & Co and Rizkana & Partners. Media partners were Xinhua News Agency (China’s prime news agency), GAR, TDM, The Law and Law Today.
Through an integral program, the conference sent a message of Afro-Asian solidarity in promoting China’s One Belt, One Road Initiative. The Keynote speech: “The Law and Economics of the Visionary OBOR Initiative: Prospects and Challenges” set the scenery. The first session displayed the legal environment in Egypt with regard to the B & R, and the second one arrayed the new prospects for international trade and industry out of both domestic and international perspectives. Particularly significant, this session was remotely attended by an expert speaker from Hong Kong who tackled the sustainability of OBOR economies and the Harmonization of Trade Law. Afterwards, the third session came to handle the financial and contractual framework of infrastructure development projects and the fourth one discussed the impact of the B & R initiative on the future of dispute settlement with specific focus on the BIAC/CRCICA/KLRCA Arbitration Initiative.
Attendees came from 14 different countries; Egypt, China, Malaysia, Sudan, France, Nigeria, Canada, Ireland, Qatar, Germany, Switzerland, Sweden, Hong Kong, and England. The professional profile of participants reflected many business sectors, mainly representing Chinese and Malaysian companies, including construction, oil and gas and telecommunication businesses. Private lawyers, diplomats, NGOs were also represented in the conference.
