The Secretary for Justice, Mr Paul Lam, SC, attended the 2026 Hainan Free Trade Port Legal Week (Hainan Legal Week) in Hainan today (October 16) to promote Hong Kong's advantage in professional services and deepen co-operation in legal and dispute resolution services between Hong Kong and Hainan, driving the two places to contribute to the high-quality development of the country by leveraging the synergy of "connection of the two ports". 

     This year's Hainan Legal Week is themed "Law-based Free Trade Port‧ Connect with the World". Speaking at the opening ceremony, Mr Lam said that Hong Kong and Hainan have maintained close relationships with close personal ties and business connections. During the National 15th Five-Year Plan period, Hainan will strengthen the construction of foreign-related rule of law and position the Hainan Free Trade Port as a preferred destination for resolving international commercial disputes. Meanwhile, Hong Kong will deepen its development into an international legal and dispute resolution services centre, leverage its strengths in professional services to assist Mainland enterprises in going global, and develop into an international hub for the pooling of high-calibre talent. He stated that the talent pooled in Hong Kong can make the most of their strengths to serve Hainan's needs, supporting Hainan to optimise its business environment governed by the rule of law. Also, Hainan shoulders the national strategic role of developing commercial aerospace as a strategic emerging industry. Hong Kong can provide tailored legal and professional services to support the commercialisation of aerospace development. Mr Lam encouraged aerospace enterprises from Hainan and across the country to adopt Hong Kong law as the applicable law in their contracts and choose Hong Kong as a venue for diversified dispute resolution.

     During the ceremony, Mr Lam and the Director-General of the Department of Justice of Hainan Province, Mr Qiu Lijun, signed a co-operation arrangement in the area of legal services, with a view to deepening co-operation between the Department of Justice and the Department of Justice of Hainan Province, including promoting legal services co-operation, foreign-related legal talent training, and mutual exchanges between Hong Kong and Hainan. Mr Lam then attended an exchange session on advancing the implementation of the co-operation arrangement and met with leaders of the Department of Justice of Hainan Province and representatives of the Hainan Lawyers Association.

     Mr Lam will return to Hong Kong this evening.

Ends/Friday, October 16, 2026
Issued at HKT 16:43

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