On October 14, 2017, the 2017 Annual Meeting of the Regional Arbitral Institutes Forum was held in Hong Kong. The Regional Arbitration Association Forum was established in 2007 and is composed of 7 arbitration organizations established in Hong Kong, Singapore, Australia, New Zealand and other countries/regions. It aims to strengthen cooperation and exchanges among arbitration organizations in various countries/regions, and promote and satisfy its members and the social and educational needs of the institution. In order to realize the communication and exchange of academic and arbitration practice between institutions, the Forum of Regional Arbitration Associations holds an annual conference every year. This annual meeting was hosted by the Hong Kong Institute of Arbitrators. More than 120 guests from the judicial, arbitration, lawyers and business circles attended the event.

The theme of this annual conference is the latest theory and practice of the arbitration industry in various countries in the region. At the beginning of the meeting, YUAN Guoqiang of Hong Kong’s Secretary of Justice and Judge SHEN Hongyu of the Fourth Civil Division of the Supreme People’s Court delivered keynote speeches.

As the sponsor of the annual meeting, CMAC was invited to participate in the annual meeting of the Forum for the first time and received multiple speaking opportunities: Ms. XIE Changqing, Director of the Business Development Department of CMAC made a speech “Maritime Arbitration in China” in the session of “Regional Arbitration Updates”. She introduced the characteristics, development prospects and practical issues of China's maritime arbitration represented by CMAC. Mr. LI Lianjun, arbitrator of CMAC, partner of Reed Smith LLP and head of the shipping lawyer team, introduced the interim arbitration rules being introduced by the CMAC Hong Kong Arbitration Center in the "Maritime Arbitration" session.

During the meeting, representatives from Australia, New Zealand, Malaysia, the Philippines, Singapore, Brunei, and Hong Kong reported on the latest developments in the arbitration industry in their respective countries/regions. Internationally renowned arbitration experts Mr. Neil Kaplan and Mr. K. Bokhary also gave wonderful speeches on the topic of selecting arbitrators.

In this annual meeting, Ms. WANG Wenying, the representative of CMAC and the Secretary-General of the Hong Kong Center of CMAC, and other participants actively communicated and interacted with the participants, focusing on promoting the advantages of the Maritime Commission in arbitration, and strived to seek cooperation with various organizations， gaining much applauses and responds.