Law Society hosts Oman IFC delegation on cooperation
SingTao · 1 SOURCESabout 2 hours ago5 MIN
Summary
The Law Society of Hong Kong received a delegation from IFC Oman on Friday as it followed up on outreach linked to Chief Executive John Lee Ka-chiu’s Central Asia visit in May. Discussions focused on Hong Kong’s common law strengths, dispute resolution services and possible institutional cooperation with the Omani financial centre
Key Points
- The delegation was led by IFC Oman board member and managing director Kairat Kelimbetov, while the Law Society side included president Roden Tong Man-lung (湯文龍), vice-presidents Hilda Lai Nga-ming (黎雅明) and Ambrose Yiu Kwok-kin (余國堅), and council member Chiu Tung (趙彤)
- Tong said Hong Kong’s advantages include its common law system, independent legal profession and established arbitration and mediation services for cross-border business, investment and trade disputes
- As IFC Oman plans cooperation arrangements with other jurisdictions, Tong suggested adding mediation clauses and using the International Organization for Mediation’s services for efficient cross-border dispute resolution
- Tong also said the Financial Services and the Treasury Bureau, the Law Society and the International Organization for Mediation are exploring a specialist mediator panel for commodities disputes under the IOMed framework
- The Law Society said Hong Kong has more than 1,700 registered foreign lawyers and over 80 registered foreign law firms, and proposed exploring whether lawyers admitted in IFC Oman could apply to register in Hong Kong, subject to local law, regulation and approval
Why It Matters
The meeting extends the Law Society’s push to deepen ties with Belt and Road jurisdictions after its recent Central Asia engagements and earlier memorandums with legal bodies in Kazakhstan, Uzbekistan and the Astana International Financial Centre. If a memorandum of understanding with IFC Oman is pursued, it could widen Hong Kong’s legal and dispute-resolution links into another common law-based international financial platform