Hosted by the Supreme People's Court (SPC) of China and undertaken by Zhejiang High People's Court, the Forum on the Rule of Law in the Digital Economy kicks off on the afternoon of May 26. [Photo/SPC]

Hosted by the Supreme People's Court (SPC) of China and undertaken by Zhejiang High People's Court, the Forum on the Rule of Law in the Digital Economy kicked off on the afternoon of May 26. China's Chief Justice Zhou Qiang and Secretary of the Zhejiang Provincial Committee of the Communist Party of China Yuan Jiajun attended the opening ceremony and delivered speeches respectively.

Themed on "Promoting the regulated development of the digital economy with innovation of the rule of law", the forum was held both online and onsite in Beijing and Hangzhou, Zhejiang province.

Zhou, also president of the SPC, said Chinese courts are willing to work with judicial organs from all over the world to carry out in-depth exchanges and cooperation on the digital rule of law, jointly improve judicial governance of the digital economy, and contribute to the building of a community with a shared future for mankind. Zhou said the accelerated innovation of technologies such as the internet, big data, cloud computing, artificial intelligence and blockchain have brought deep changes in production, people's lifestyles and governance modes. China has attached great importance to the development of the digital economy and supported international cooperation in this regard. Chinese courts will continue to deepen international exchanges and cooperation on the digital rule of law, share experiences on the promotion of digital rule of law construction, cyberspace governance, judicial application of information technologies and innovation of litigation models, and learn from other countries so as to jointly create a higher level of digital fairness and justice across the globe. He said he hoped all participants of the forum can build on consensuses and deepen communication and cooperation, proactively explore new judicial models and litigation regulations, expand the scope and depth of digital judicial cooperation, promote a regulation system for the digital economy which is universally accepted and effective, and contribute to the construction of a global digital governance system that safeguards economic globalization towards a more open, inclusive, balanced and win-win direction.

Yuan said Zhejiang as a pilot province in digital economy and reform has striven to promote digital reforms to stimulate innovation, and improved regulations and systems that greatly boosted the robust and healthy development of the digital economy in the province. Zhejiang will take the opportunity of this forum to exchange ideas with friends from around the world on accelerating the transformation of technologies, industries and governance modes, and strive to come up with rule of law plans that match the law and demands of innovation, and build a digital economy that benefits the people in China and the world.

President of the Supreme Court of Benin Victor Dassi Adossou said digitization has become an inevitable topic in exchanges involving various fields, especially the economic field, as globalization faces challenges amid the pandemic. The development of the digital economy has provided a significant opportunity for judicial organs in all countries to apply information technologies, which can greatly enhance case handling efficiency. He said he hoped this forum could give him inspiration to better respond to the new challenges brought by the transformation and innovation of information technology and the development of the digital economy.

President and Chief Justice of the Supreme Court of Kenya Martha Karambu Koome said the COVID-19 pandemic has pushed judicial organs in Kenya to speed up digitization, especially in areas such as online working models, online litigation models, improving judicial efficiency via information technology and the integration of digital technologies and judicial work. She said she looked forward to exchanging with other forum participants and strengthening cooperation to achieve a better development of the digital economy towards the rule of law.

President of the Court of Cassation and the Supreme Judiciary Council of Qatar Hassan bin Lahdan Alhassan Almohanadi said this forum has great significance to judicial organs from across the world in better coping with challenges brought by the digital economy. He said he looked forward to thoroughly communicating with other participants, exchanging views on important topics of common concern and learning from each other’s positive experiences so as to enhance Qatar's judicial capacity and contribute to the development of the world’s socioeconomic development.

President of the Supreme People's Court of Vietnam Nguyen Hoa Binh said the fast development of the digital economy has provided opportunities and momentum for judicial reforms in all countries. This forum served as a key platform for information sharing and experience exchanges among all attending parties. Courts in Vietnam attached great importance to the application of information technologies and looked forward to enhancing understanding of each other and strengthening pragmatic cooperation in a bid to jointly promote and improve the global governance system of the digital economy.

The opening ceremony was hosted by Vice-President of the SPC Yang Wanming. Representatives and diplomats from Morocco, the Caribbean Community, Pakistan, the Philippines, Russia, Serbia, Singapore, Venezuela, and the United Kingdom as well as the United Nations and other international organizations attended the ceremony remotely.