This Dec 1, 2017 photo shows Canton Tower and Haixinsha Island in Guangzhou, south China's Guangdong province. (JIN LIANGKUAI / XINHUA)

HONG KONG - The second Guangdong-Hong Kong-Macao Bay Area Legal Departments Joint Conference was held virtually on Friday, with the Proposal to set up the Greater Bay Area Mediation Platform endorsed.

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Those attending the conference included Director-General of the Department of Justice of Guangdong Province Chen Xudong, Secretary for Justice of the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region (HKSAR) government Teresa Cheng Yuek-wah, and Secretary for Administration and Justice of the Macao Special Administrative Region government Cheong Weng Chon.

According to the endorsed proposal, the Greater Bay Area Mediation Platform is an authoritative, high-level exchange and cooperation platform set up by the legal departments of the three governments to promote mediation work

At the meeting, the three parties endorsed the Proposal to set up the Greater Bay Area Mediation Platform. The three parties further agreed to establish the Working Group on the Greater Bay Area Mediation Platform.

According to the endorsed proposal, the Greater Bay Area Mediation Platform is an authoritative, high-level exchange and cooperation platform set up by the legal departments of the three governments to promote mediation work.

The Working Group on the Greater Bay Area Mediation Platform will promote the formulation of a unified qualification and the qualification assessment and related standards for mediators in the Bay Area.

Cheng said at the joint conference that the three parties should seize the immense opportunities posed by the unique characteristics of the Guangdong-Hong Kong-Macao Greater Bay Area - "one country, two systems and three jurisdictions."

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Cheong said that the legal departments of the three governments should strengthen legal exchanges and cooperation in accordance with the outline development plan for the Guangdong-Hong Kong-Macao Greater Bay Area to provide high-quality, efficient and convenient judicial and legal services for the Greater Bay Area.

The three parties agreed to continue to capitalize on the joint conference to promote cooperation in lawyers, arbitration, mediation, public legal services, to coordinate and solve the problems encountered in promoting the convergence of systems and rules in the Greater Bay Area, and to provide institutional guarantee for the development of Greater Bay Area.