China and Singapore hold their first joint legal and judcial roundtable in Beijing on August 21.

China and Singapore held their first joint legal and judicial roundtable in Beijing on August 21.

Zhou Qiang, chief justice and president of the Supreme People's Court (SPC) of China, and Singapore’s Chief Justice Sundaresh Menon addressed the conference.

Themed “Judicial justice in the new century”, the meeting was held to implement the consensus reached between the two countries to establish a systematic platform to support exchange, consultation and cooperation.

The two sides held deep and extensive discussions on the acknowledgment and execution of civil and commercial judgments, judge training and law and judicial cooperation for the Belt and Road Initiative.

Zhou said that the high-level conference will surely elevate pragmatic judicial cooperation between the two countries to a new height and thus contribute to the friendly relationship.

Zhou pointed out that courts of all countries are faced with opportunities and challenges against the backdrop of deepening globalization and social informationization. Safeguarding fairness and justice is the common goal of the judicial organs of both countries.

He also made a three-point suggestion: first, further improve cooperative mechanisms and expand the depth and width of cooperation; second, keep channels of information exchanges and sharing unblocked and learn from each other’s experience and lessons; third, build on cooperative results and establish a long-term exchange mechanism.

Menon spoke highly of the successful cooperation between the two sides in his opening speech.

He said the conference is a milestone and is supportive of the judicial relationship between Singapore and China.

Conference participants had deep exchanges and shared insightful thoughts, said Menon.

Menon said people in both countries share common interests and challenges in economic globalization, adding that they should work together to set up a long-term cooperative mechanism to promote trade between China and Singapore and in the Asian-Pacific region.