Communication between two legal systems boost investors’ confidence: Yang Enqian

by Fatima Javed

Pakistan and China have very good historical relations and investors in China is confident in Pakistan. To further boost this confidence, communication between two legal systems is important, said Yang Enqian, Deputy Chief Judge of the Suzhou International Commercial Court, China.

He was speaking at the webinar Tuesday on Commercial Courts in a Global Context. Yang Enqian added that the communication can make Chinese investors more familiar with Pakistan’s judicial system.

The forum was attended by speakers from China, Singapore, Dubai, UK, Kazakhstan, and Pakistan and was co-sponsored by the University of Oxford (China, Law & Development), Faisalabad Industrial Estate Development & Management Company, Ease of Doing Business in Pakistan, Pakistan-China Joint Chamber of Commerce & Industry, and Center for International Investment and Commercial Arbitration.

In recent years, many states and municipalities have established new commercial courts which are perceived by some to be the building blocks of economic development and global commerce.

These new commercial courts include those that are designed primarily for domestic disputes and others geared toward international disputes.

The new international courts share a common aspiration: to provide forums for the resolution of commercial conflicts that are cheap, quick, and whose judgments are enforceable.

As part of its Ease of Doing Business Reforms Agenda, Pakistan has recently established commercial courts at the district level.

The new commercial courts dovetail with a number of macro-economic and geostrategic trends, including the rise of Asia, and China in particular, as a supplier of both outbound capital and dispute resolution, and the increasing diversification of forums across the world.

This webinar provided an in-depth discussion of the new domestic and international commercial courts with a focus on topics including jurisdiction and legislative basis, regulatory framework, relationship to the domestic court system, staffing and personnel issues, the courts-arbitration nexus, and cross-border disputes and associated enforcement issues.  

Moderated by Professor Matthew Erie from the University of Oxford, the panel of speakers, including judges and lawyers from Pakistan, the UK, Singapore, and China, shared insights into the launch and evolution of these new courts in the context of both dynamic domestic and global legal transformations.