BEIJING, May 20 (Xinhua) -- Wang Yi, a member of the Political Bureau of the Communist Party of China Central Committee and Chinese foreign minister, will attend the signing ceremony of the Convention on the Establishment of the International Organization for Mediation (IOMed) in Hong Kong, south China, on May 30, a foreign ministry spokesperson said on Tuesday.
At a regular news briefing on the same day, foreign ministry spokesperson Mao Ning said that in 2022, China and nearly 20 countries with similar positions jointly launched the initiative to establish the IOMed. Through concerted efforts, negotiations on the Convention on the Establishment of the IOMed have been concluded, and all sides agreed to situate its headquarters in Hong Kong.
Nearly 60 countries from Asia, Africa, Latin America and Europe, and around 20 international organizations, including the United Nations (UN), will send high-level representatives to the signing ceremony on May 30. The Global Forum on International Mediation will be held in the afternoon that same day to carry out discussions on "mediation of disputes between States" and "mediation of disputes between a State and foreign investors and commercial disputes," among other issues, Mao added.
Noting that mediation is one of the important measures to settle disputes stipulated in the UN Charter, Mao said that as a relatively more amicable way to settle disputes, mediation fully respects the will of parties concerned and has the unique advantages of greater flexibility, convenience, lower costs and more effective implementation. It is reflective of the tradition of amity and harmony which is valued in the East.
Aimed at settling differences and resolving disputes through mediation, the IOMed will be the world's first intergovernmental legal organization dedicated to resolving international disputes through mediation, and will serve as an important mechanism in safeguarding the purposes and principles of the UN Charter, she noted.
She said that the establishment of the IOMed is a response to the shared need of countries in the world for peace, stability and development, and echoes the call of today's world for cooperation and mutual benefit. It pools the advantages of all major law systems, and will help bring about more fair and equitable global governance in terms of the rule of law.
"We welcome support and participation from more countries in creating the IOMed, to better enable it to coordinate with existing international dispute settlement mechanisms to make one another more effective, and provide increased options and pathways to resolve international disputes through efficient and peaceful means, and better safeguard international fairness and justice," the spokesperson said.
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