Secretary for Justice Paul Lam today attended the 2026 Hainan Free Trade Port Legal Week in Hainan.

Mr Lam promoted Hong Kong’s strengths in professional services and sought to deepen co-operation in legal and dispute resolution between Hong Kong and Hainan, focusing on the idea of leveraging “connection of the two ports” as a means of contributing to the country’s high-quality development.

Speaking at the opening ceremony, he remarked that Hong Kong and Hainan maintain close relations, supported by strong personal ties and business connections. During the period of the National 15th Five-Year Plan, Hainan will aim to strengthen its foreign-related rule of law and position the Hainan Free Trade Port as a preferred destination for resolving international commercial disputes.

Mr Lam outlined that for its part Hong Kong will deepen its development as an international legal and dispute resolution services centre, leverage its strengths in professional services to assist Mainland enterprises in “going global”, and develop as an international hub for pooling high-calibre talent. He stressed that Hong Kong’s talent pool can help to serve Hainan’s needs and support the province in optimising its rule of law-governed business environment.

The justice chief also highlighted that Hainan has a key role to play in developing commercial aerospace as a strategic emerging industry, adding that Hong Kong can provide tailored legal and professional services to support the commercialisation of aerospace development. He urged aerospace enterprises from Hainan and across the country to adopt Hong Kong law in their contracts and choose the city as a venue for diversified dispute resolution.

At the ceremony, Mr Lam and Director-General of Hainan’s Department of Justice Qiu Lijun signed a co-operation arrangement to strengthen ties between the two places. The agreement covers legal services co-operation, foreign-related legal talent training, and mutual exchanges between Hong Kong and Hainan.

Mr Lam subsequently attended an exchange session focused on advancing the arrangement’s implementation and met other leaders from the Hainan Department of Justice and representatives of the Hainan Lawyers Association.