Secretary for Justice Teresa Cheng today officiated at the plaque unveiling ceremony for the Working Group on the Greater Bay Area Mediation Platform with legal department heads from Guangdong and Macau.

The working group was established by the legal departments of Guangdong, Hong Kong and Macau.

Ms Cheng officiated the event with Guangdong Department of Justice Director-General Chen Xudong and Macao Special Administrative Region Government Secretary for Administration & Justice Cheong Weng Chon.

The working group held its inaugural meeting after the ceremony. During the meeting, qualification and accreditation standards for mediators in the Guangdong-Hong Kong-Macao Greater Bay Area, best practices for mediators' code of conduct, and guidelines for mediation rules applicable to cross-boundary disputes were discussed.

Ms Cheng said that the Greater Bay Area has been developing rapidly since the promulgation of the Outline Development Plan for the bay area. As the only common law jurisdiction within the country, Hong Kong can utilise the unique advantages under "one country, two systems and three jurisdictions" in the bay area, providing quality, effective and convenient legal services in the area in accordance with the development blueprint mapped out in the 14th Five-Year Plan.

She noted that during the Guangdong-Hong Kong-Macao Bay Area Legal Departments Joint Conference held last year, the three places endorsed the Proposal to set up the Greater Bay Area Mediation Platform as a co-operation platform for promoting mediation work, to enable better use of mediation by the business sector and the public in the area.

The working group will continue to actively promote the platform's work.