Deputy Secretary for Justice Cheung Kwok-kwan today led a Hong Kong Special Administrative Region delegation to participate in a forum in Urumqi, Xinjiang, to promote Hong Kong's ties with Xinjiang and Uzbekistan.

After a visit to an Uzbekistan product fair, Mr Cheung attended the opening ceremony of the forum. He then called on Standing Committee Member of the CPC Xinjiang Uyghur Autonomous Regional Committee and Executive Vice Chairman of the People's Government of Xinjiang Uyghur Autonomous Region Chen Weijun.

Mr Cheung said that Hong Kong, with distinctive advantages of enjoying the strong support of the motherland and close connection to the world under the "one country, two systems" principle, is playing the roles of super connector and super value-adder for the Belt & Road countries and regions.

He added that as an international legal and dispute resolution services centre practising common law, one of the most preferred seats for arbitration worldwide and also a key link for the Belt & Road Initiative, Hong Kong is well positioned to build with other regions a system of fair, reasonable and transparent international trade rules.

Mr Cheung also mentioned the nine mutual legal assistance arrangements Hong Kong has with the Mainland, including the Mainland Judgments in Civil & Commercial Matters (Reciprocal Enforcement) Ordinance that will come into force by the end of this month.

It will be conducive to businesses choosing Hong Kong as the seat of arbitration and adopting Hong Kong law as the applicable law for their contracts, enabling the city to contribute to the national development, he explained.

Yesterday, Mr Cheung joined a group meeting with Deputy Prime Minister of Uzbekistan Jamshid Khodjayev and attended a banquet where he noted that the merchandise trade between Hong Kong and Uzbekistan amounted to $6 billion in 2022, a nearly 17-fold increase over 2021.