2018GLA华盛顿会议演讲稿-EN

Speech at the 2018 GLA Annual Conference in Washington D.C.

Chen Wen, Co-Chair, GLA

October 19, 2018

Honorable Mr. Cheng Mo-chi, Chairman of GLA

Honorable Ambassador Cui Tiankai,

Honorable Mr. Zhao Ai,

Dear Members of the GLA,

Ladies and gentlemen

Good morning!

Welcome to the 2018 GLA Annual Conference. 

Global Legal Alliance is a non-governmental organization, created by 11 international law firms in Beijing on May 19, 2016. Our mission is to set up a platform that brings together lawyers from small and medium-sized law firms and legal professionals that are working in house in large and medium-sized businesses, so that they can exchange ideas, learn from each other, pursue professional development together and identify opportunities for international cooperation and business development.

Our 2016 Annual Conference was held in Hong Kong and Qianhai, Shenzhen, with the theme of “Legal Service for the Society”. And in 2017, we met in Cyprus to discuss “Belt and Road Plus: Legal Professionals Serving Local Communities”.

This year, we come to Washington DC and New York. And this time we are going to talk about “Cross-border Investment and International Cooperation”. Indeed, international cooperation seems to be on everybody’s agenda nowadays, and it happens not just amongst developed countries or developing countries, but also between these two groups. Regardless of its size and wealth, a country needs to work with the outside world if it wishes to pursue social development. 

An important form of international cooperation is cross-border investment. The US businesses are making investment overseas; the Chinese businesses are also doing so; the US businesses are investing in China and the Chinese are also investing in the US. The Fortune 500 companies are making investment not only within their national borders, but also in other parts of the world. And it’s not just the Fortune 500 companies. Many emerging High-tech companies from sectors such as artificial intelligence, bio technology, Fintech, healthcare and clean energy are also expanding their global presence. Thanks to the internet and new ways of transportation, the world is becoming smaller and smaller. We are no longer constrained by physical distance and as a result, we are seeing more and more cross-border investment happening across the globe.

Investment is a complicated undertaking. especially when it happens across national borders. Investors need to understand the laws and regulations and policies in the hosting countries before they do anything else. And for that to happen, they will need to work with legal service providers from that part of the world, which means that legal professionals from different jurisdictions need work together for that to work.

Today, legal professionals and entrepreneurs from dozens of countries gather together to discuss legal issues that might occur in cross-border investment and ways for lawyers to work together to facilitate international investment. 

Today, we are very honored to have invited Mr. Zhao Ai from the Office of the Leading Group for the Belt and Road Initiative, Mr. Cui Tiankai, the Chinese Ambassador to the US and the US Trade Representative XXX with us. I believe, their keynote speeches will get us off to a very good start. 

We also have a very distinguished group of speakers and panelists and we are looking forward to hearing them speak. 

Our conference here today, we believe, will help smooth out some of the difficulties in cross-border investment and international cooperation and serve as a catalyst for the Sino-US economic ties and bilateral trade and investment. Together, let’s witness that to happen.

Best wishes for a successful conference. Thank you.