The China-Pakistan Economic Corridor (CPEC) is the leading project of the “Belt and Road Initiative” (BRI) of China. The goal of CPEC is to transform the economy of Pakistan by modernizing its road, rail, air, and energy infrastructure and to connect the deep-sea Pakistani ports of Gwadar and Karachi to China’s Xinjiang province and beyond by overland routes.
China’s Belt and Road Initiative (BRI) is an ambitious programme to connect Asia with Africa and Europe via land and maritime networks along six corridors with the aim of improving regional integration, increasing trade and stimulating economic growth.
The BRI comprises a Silk Road Economic Belt – a trans-continental passage that links China with south east Asia, south Asia, Central Asia, Russia and Europe by land – and a 21st century Maritime Silk Road, a sea route connecting China’s coastal regions with south east and south Asia, the South Pacific, the Middle East and Eastern Africa, all the way to Europe.
This new commercial and economic business also involves a number of legal issues pertaining to the development of the new projects. There is a strong need to develop a dispute resolution mechanism to address the issues of all the economic and commercial projects of the CPEC among the corporations, their regulators and between governments.
The conventional method of resolving disputes i.e. litigation, with its lengthy judicial procedures would have a detrimental impact on CPEC. Jurisdictional arguments will also be problematic given that China’s legal system is extremely different from Pakistan; it is based on civil law and there is also no separation of powers.International ADR is a much more suited mechanism that could help Pakistan and China in resolving disputes.
Our Centre has a body of professionals who have drafted national legislation as well as international rules and regulations. Collectively, they are amongst the world’s and the region’s leading practitioners in ADR. Members of the Centre have drafted the Trade Dispute Resolution – TDRO Act, under the instructions of the Trade Dispute Resolution Organization (TDRO), an autonomous body set up by the Ministry of Commerce in 2015. This draft legislation is under consideration in the Ministry of Law.
The Centre is hosting a seminar for ICC Arbitration in Spring 2019. This will be a half-day seminar on International Arbitration. The President of the ICC Court of Arbitration (Paris), Alexis Mourre, will be the guest speaker.
Our Centre aims to become the leading policy-guiding forum on CPEC.
