Xiangqian Gong: Three Points on the Investment Dispute Settlement between China and Africa
Dear every one,
It’s my great honor to speak here. Thanks for your invitation for the important “China-Africa Thematic Symposium”.
I am glad to take this opportunity to introduce my Institute——The Institute of International Dispute Prevention and Settlement of BIT，which is jointly established by the China Council for the Promotion of International Trade and Beijing Institute of Technology. The aim of our Institute is to build an open, international and high level academic exchange platform, think tank, and personnel training base, to support the "one belt and one way" initiative, particularly in the fields of science and technology, intellectual property rights and international dispute prevention and settlement, and the relevant legal issues in the "one belt and one road" construction. So you are welcome to share your wisdom and recommend good students to study in our Institute.
As far as investment dispute settlement, I am glad to share three points:
The first point is about the right to development.
China proposed One Belt and One Road (OBOR) Initiative in 2013. This Initiative conforms to the world multi-polarization and helps to establish political mutual trust for realizing the right to development, adapts to economic globalization and cultural diversity and helps to realizing the economic development, social progress, and environmental protection. It constitutes China’s latest contribution to the realization of the right to development. Hence, we will try to study the investment dispute resolution mechanisms which can keep the balance of interests between Chinese investor and African states, and the resources development and environmental protection.
The second point is about the pluralistic dispute resolution mechanism.
Since the “Belt and Road Initiative” was put forward, the Supreme People's Court published "Several Opinions, clarified the service and guarantee role of the judicial field in boosting the “Belt and Road Initiative”, stressed the importance of the pluralistic dispute resolution mechanism in resolving disputes related to the construction of the “Belt and Road Initiative”. Hence, our institute will focus on the in-depth analysis of the relationship between the “Belt and Road Initiative” and the pluralistic dispute resolution mechanism, and will focus on the construction of a pluralistic mediation system framework centered on the people’s court”.
The third point relates to dispute prevention.
Unlike other similar institutions, our Institute focuses on dispute prevention and explores proactive, long-term and fundamental approaches to dispute settlement. First, negotiation and consultation are the most common and the oldest way to settle international disputes. In contemporary international law, "negotiation" and "consultation" are also listed as one of the main methods of peaceful settlement of international disputes by many international conventions. So, our Institute will explore some innovative legal mechanisms to promote all the parties along the “Belt and Road Initiative” to take international "negotiation" and "consultation" as the first choice to dispute settlement. Besides, the Parties may apply, where necessary, risk assessments, due diligence, environmental assessments (including strategic environmental assessments), taking into account the specificities and risks relating to the One Belt and One Road, and shall consult on projects of transnational character in the area, and assess their different impacts, in order to avoid disputes.
Thanks for your hearing.