Attendees of the BRICS Justices Forum pose for a group photo online, Sept 21, 2022. [Photo/court.gov.cn]

The BRICS Justices Forum wrapped up on the evening of Sept 21, and adopted a joint statement from the BRICS chief justices. Zhou Qiang, president of the Supreme People's Court (SPC) of China, attended and addressed the closing ceremony. 

According to the joint statement, supreme courts in BRICS countries will equally protect their citizens' rights and interests under the principle of justice, continue to promote liberalization and facilitation of trade and investment, facilitate the coordination and unification of trade laws and regulations, and jointly safeguard fair, honest and trustworthy regional cooperation based on consensuses among member states. The supreme courts in BRICS countries acknowledged the importance of information technology to their work, and will further strengthen smart court construction as well as cooperation in areas concerning sustainable development. They looked forward to reinforcing the role of international judicial assistance with information technology under the framework, and agreed to deepen cooperation in areas such as the training of judges and exchanges on judicial cases. 

Zhou extended congratulations on the success of the forum on behalf of China's SPC, saying that the forum served as a platform for attending parties to explore new cooperation routes and measures and yielded important consensuses, which will strongly promote the high-quality development of judicial work within BRICS countries and better serve socioeconomic development with high-level judicial services, he said. 

Zhou said that the forum intensified cooperation consensuses, increased friendship and mutual trust, and drew blueprints for a brighter future. He pledged that China's SPC is ready to work with all BRICS judicial organs, uphold the open, inclusive, cooperative and win-win spirit of BRICS, and further deepen cooperation and exchanges to serve the high-quality partnership among BRICS countries.

Rosa Weber, chief justice and president of the Federal Supreme Court of Brazil, Vyacheslav Lebedev, chief justice and president of the Supreme Court of Russia, Uday Umesh Lalit, chief justice of India, and Boissie Mbha, justice of the Constitutional Court of South Africa, each addressed the closing ceremony. They all lauded the achievements of the forum for deepening cooperation and exchanges among supreme courts of BRICS countries. They also expressed hope to expand cooperation in areas including international commercial dispute resolution and smart court development.