For the first time, the Central Asia Trial Center of the China International Economic Arbitration Commission heard two foreign-related arbitration cases. This trial is the first time that it has been held less than 45 days after the establishment of the trial center, which is of representative significance.
Both cases were disputes over contracts for the sale of goods, involving transactions related to the import of agricultural products by Chinese companies from Kazakhstan and Russia. In addition to natural persons and legal persons from Xinjiang, the parties involved also entities from Hong Kong, China. After the parties reached a consensus, they jointly applied for a trial at CIETAC's newly established Central Asia Trial Center in Urumqi, Xinjiang, so as to effectively reduce the cost of dispute resolution.
In recent years, the scale of cooperation between China and the five Central Asian countries in the economic and investment fields has continued to expand. In 2022, the two sides of the five Central Asian countries will exceed US$70 billion, an increase of about 100 times compared with the establishment of diplomatic relations in 1992. As of the end of March this year, China's stock of direct investment in the five Central Asian countries exceeded US$15 billion, and the cumulative turnover of completed project contracting was US$63.9 billion. From 2013, when the general secretary of the Silk Road Economic Belt proposed the initiative to jointly build the "Silk Road Economic Belt", to the authorization of the National Development and Reform Commission and other three ministries and commissions to jointly issue the "Vision and Action for Promoting the Joint Construction of the Silk Road Economic Belt and the 21st Century Maritime Silk Road" In the past 10 years, CIETAC has firmly grasped its strategic positioning in the overall development of the country, integrated its own advantages and strategic layout into the overall layout of the country's opening up to the west, shared high-end international legal resources with Xinjiang, and served the new development pattern with the domestic cycle as the main body and the domestic and international cycles reinforcing each other with the new layout of international arbitration cooperation and development. In view of the steady and rapid growth of China-Central Asia economic and trade cooperation in recent years and the increasing demand for related legal services, CIETAC officially inaugurated the Central Asia Trial Center in Urumqi on November 1, 2023, in order to further facilitate the parties of Central Asia and surrounding countries jointly building the "Belt and Road". The Center aims to serve the major development strategy of building a China-Central Asia community with a shared future, rely on CIETAC's rich legal resources, provide high-quality and efficient dispute resolution services for the parties, further play the important role of arbitration in escorting the economic and trade cooperation and development of the "Belt and Road", and continuously improve the level of China-Central Asia commercial legal cooperation, so as to better coordinate the international and domestic markets and resources, actively serve and integrate into the new development pattern, and help build a closer China-Central Asia legal cooperation community.
The first trial was conducted in less than 45 days after the establishment of the Central Asia Trial Center, which reflects the urgent need for dispute resolution between parties involved in Xinjiang and neighboring countries and regions, and further demonstrates the necessity of CIETAC to set up a Central Asia Trial Center in Xinjiang. At the same time, the parties' active choice to conduct the trial at the CIETAC Central Asia Trial Center also demonstrates the parties' recognition and trust in CIETAC's credibility and reputation in the field of dispute resolution.
In the future, CIETAC Central Asia Trial Center will continue to be guided by the changing dispute resolution needs of the parties, actively explore new dispute resolution models, and establish a new mechanism for commercial legal cooperation, with a view to promoting the construction of the Xinjiang Pilot Free Trade Zone, improving the local business environment and opening up to the outside world, and at the same time serving the high-quality development of the Belt and Road Initiative and contributing to the construction of the China-Central Asia Community.
Author: China International Economic Arbitration Commission.