Organized by the National High-end Think Tank the Institute of International Law of  Wuhan University, Overseas Investment Law Research Center, the China law Center of the Law School of Erasmus University Law School, Rotterdam, Netherlands, ‘China-Europe Forum on Reform of International Investment Dispute Settlement’,  was successfully held at the Law School of Wuhan University on 17th-18th this month. More than 20 experts from European and Chinese universities, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and the Chinese Academy of Social Sciences visited the forum.

The opening ceremony of the conference was presided over by Professor Qiu Tong, Executive Director of the Overseas Investment Law Research Center of Wuhan University. Professor Feng Guo, Dean of Wuhan University Law School, Professor Xiao Yongping, Director of the Institute of International Law of Wuhan University, and Professor Yuwen Li, Director of China Law Center of Erasmus University Law School, Rotterdam, The Netherlands and Zhang Jiao, the exchange scholar of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, delivered speeches.

Professor Qi Tong, Executive Director of Wuhan University Overseas Investment Law Research Center

Professor Qi Tong, the host of the opening ceremony of the forum, first expressed his warm welcome to the attendees of the conference. He also introduced the background of the forum, the guests and the agenda of the conference.

Professor Feng Guo, Dean of Wuhan University Law School

In his speech, Dean Feng introduced the leading position of the Law School of Wuhan University in China's legal discipline construction and legal education, and emphasized the strong position of international law in the law discipline of Wuhan University Law School. With the development of international investment, international investment disputes are increasing, and investors complain that the host country dispute settlement mechanism is closely related to the interests of investors, investor home countries and investment host countries, and affects the development of the world economy, thus fully affirming the meaning and impact of the forum.

Professor Xiao Yongping, Director of Institute of International Law, Wuhan University

In his speech, Director Xiao combined the ‘One Belt, One Road’ initiative to discuss the theme of this forum. The ‘ One Belt and One Road Initiative’ requires fair, stable and predictable legal services and effective dispute resolution mechanisms in the process of promoting international cooperation. The current dispute resolution mechanism in the ‘One Belt and one Road’ region cannot meet this realistic demand. Reforming the international investment dispute settlement mechanism is at this time. In this regard, Director Xiao believes that the reform of the dispute settlement mechanism does not completely replace the existing system and related mechanisms, but must meet the needs of international cooperation and provide more choices for the parties to the dispute, especially the cheaper and more efficient dispute settlement. platform. Therefore, Director Xiao suggested that the next forum should follow the principle of ‘One Belt One Road’ initiative to discuss, build and share in the specific discussion process.

Professor Yuwen Li, Director of the China Law Center, Erasmus University School of Law, Rotterdam, The Netherlands

The representative of the European Union, Professor Yuwen Li, said that the researchers present here will make an important contribution to the final conclusion of a successful treaty by discussing the ongoing issues of the China-EU BIT negotiations. To this end, the main purpose of this forum is to discuss the issues related to the reform of the ISDS mechanism by concentrating the collective wisdom of the experts from China and Europe, especially how the EU and China act as the dominant players.

Foreign Ministry exchange scholar Zhang Jiao

On behalf of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, Zhang Jiao expressed her gratitude to the organizers of this meeting. In recent years, with the development of the international investment market, the legal issues related to international investment have become prominent, and the regulation of the international investment law is urgently needed. The reform of the investor's complaint against the host country's dispute settlement mechanism is underway. In 2015, the EU clearly stated that it will replace the ISDS mechanism in the investment agreement signed and signed by the EU with the investment court system, including the ISDS mechanism in the future Central European BIT. Therefore, Zhang Jiao said that the theme of the forum, "International Investment Dispute Resolution Mechanism Reform", is in line with the realities faced by China, the EU and the international world on related issues. Finally, Zhang Jiao highlighted several problems related to ISDS in the BIT negotiation, including the relationship between the investment court system and other ISDS mechanisms, the jurisdiction of the investment court and the extraterritorial execution of the judgment, and the transformation of ICS from the bilateral to the multilateral level. .

After the brief opening ceremony, the forum officially entered the panel discussion. During the one-and-a-half-day meeting, Professor Yuwen Li, Professor Michael Faure, Professor Martijn Scheltema from the University of Rotterdam, Erasmus, the Netherlands, and Vid Prislan, a researcher from the University of Leiden, the Netherlands, from the Pandison School of Law at King's College, University of London, UK. Alessandro Spano Researcher (Skype), Associate Professor Zhang Sheng (skype), who is visiting Mapu, Germany, and Doctor of Law., from the McGill University School of Law in Canada, as well as experts and scholars from some Chinese institutions and institutions. Several important issues in the process of investment dispute resolution reform, including the interpretation of law and economics of investment arbitration, the reference of WTO dispute settlement mechanism to ISDS reform, the China program of ISDS reform, the specific system design of international investment court, domestic court and ISDS Relationships, state-owned enterprises in investment arbitration, sustainable development, public interest protection, anti-corruption, transparency, etc., respectively, from the two different perspectives of the EU and China to elaborate their respective views, and based on the full discussion of existing research results Subsequent improvements provide multiple opinions, ICSID China-EU bilateral investment treaty negotiations and ongoing institutional reform to provide theoretical support and professional advice.

In the closing speech of the closing session, Professor Qi Tong expressed his heartfelt thanks to the participants for their coming and active participation, and summarized the speeches of the delegates one by one. They believed that the discussion was warm and fruitful and the meeting was completed. success. In the summary speech, Professor Yuwen LI of the Dutch side was deeply impressed by the careful preparation and meticulous arrangement of the organizers of the conference. He also introduced the arrangement of the same theme seminar to be held in Rotterdam, the Netherlands next April. In the warm applause of the delegates, this international forum was successfully concluded.

The entire international forum was conducted in English and there was no simultaneous interpretation. Due to the forefront of the issue, the seminar was in-depth and attracted a large number of teachers and students from a large number of international students to attend the meeting.

The successful holding of this forum and the follow-up further international exchanges and cooperation arrangements will not only greatly enhance the international academic influence of Wuhan University Law School, but also give full play to the Institute of International Law of Wuhan University as the first batch of national high-end think tanks in the theory of international law. The disciplinary advantage of empirical research and the role of think tanks in serving the real legal needs of countries in foreign economic and trade exchanges.