Tao Kaiyuan, vice-president of the Supreme People's Court (SPC) of China, called for extensive regional legal exchanges and cooperation to provide high-quality judicial services and guarantee to support the implementation of the Regional Comprehensive Economic Partnership Agreement (RCEP).

Tao made the remarks while attending the Third China-ASEAN Justice Forum held on July 20.

Tao said the SPC has made great efforts to improve rules for cross-border trade and investment and to foster a market-oriented, law-based and internationalized business environment since the Belt and Road Initiative was proposed.

Adhering to equal protection in accordance with the law, China's top court has stepped up efforts to promote cross-border trade liberalization and facilitation and actively created a market-oriented, law-based and internationalized business environment to protect the legitimate rights and interests of foreign investors. Tao said, adding that efforts has been made to improve the efficacy and efficiency of foreign-related justice and promote the high-quality development of foreign-related trials.  

Accelerating the adaption of the new RCEP economic and trade rules implemented on Jan 1 this year is a new task for courts in China and ASEAN countries.

To this end, Tao suggested further enhancing communication and promoting harmonization and uniformity of rules for the trial of trade and investment disputes in areas related to the RCEP, deepening cooperation to improve the efficiency of judicial assistance, and stepping up relevant research to reach an early consensus on investment dispute resolution.

Jhosep Y. Lopezm, Associate Justice of the Supreme Court of the Republic of the Philippines, and Aung Kyaw Moe, Deputy Director General of the Office of the Supreme Court Union of Myanmar, also spoke on the theme of "Accelerate the Adaptation of New RCEP Economic and Trade Rules to Provide Better Judicial Services for Regional Trade and Investment".

Vice-president of the SPC Tang Wanming chaired the seminar.