For decades, the HKSAR Government has been providing support to the promotion of international dispute resolution services including arbitration and mediation in the Asia-Pacific region. The recently concluded HK-ASEAN Free Trade Agreement and a related Investment Agreement attach great importance to using HK's top quality professional services as a stepping stone to seize the vast opportunities in the Mainland market, thus fostering closer collaboration with ASEAN as a whole and with each of its members.

In this talk, Dr. Ong introduced the history and differences in the laws of the ten ASEAN countries and how their respective legal systems operate. He provided an overview starting from the establishment of ASEAN up to the establishment of the ASEAN Economic Community. He examined the legal structure of the ASEAN supranational body as well as the ASEAN-PRC Agreement on Dispute Settlement Mechanism of the Framework Agreement on Comprehensive Economic Co-Operation (Vientiane 2004). He also discussed the Belt and Road Initiative and the Guangdong - Hong Kong - Macao Bay Area Development as well as important cultural differences that exist in international arbitration between parties from different legal traditions.

Dr. Ong explored how Hong Kong's unique arrangements with the Mainland could help bridge such cultural differences and allow it to serve as an ideal neutral seat of arbitration to host commercial disputes that can arise between PRC parties and parties from countries along the Belt and Road routes.