Speech by SJ at signing ceremony of MOU between DoJ and Ministry of Justice of the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia

Empowering justice: sj's inspiring speech at historic mou signing with saudi ministry of justice

Following is the speech by the Secretary for Justice, Mr Paul Lam, SC, at the signing ceremony of the Memorandum of Understanding of Cooperation between the Department of Justice of the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region and the Ministry of Justice of the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia today (April 22) to strengthen their co-operation on issues relating to dispute avoidance and resolution:

Your Excellency Dr Waleed Mohammed Alsmani (Minister of Justice of the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia), distinguished guests, ladies and gentlemen,

It is my great honour to sign the Memorandum of Understanding, on behalf of the Department of Justice of the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region of the People's Republic of China, with the Ministry of Justice of the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia.

This Memorandum is the first memorandum on legal co-operation that Hong Kong signs with a Middle East jurisdiction. This signifies the great value and importance Hong Kong attaches to fostering stronger and closer relationship with the Middle East, in particular, Saudi Arabia.

Under the principle of "one country, two systems", Hong Kong has the unrivalled advantages of enjoying strong support of the Central People's Government of China and at the same time being closely connected to the world. As the only common law jurisdiction within China, our well-established legal system and top-notch legal and dispute resolution services give Hong Kong a unique edge which attracts business opportunities from across the globe. These distinctive features afford Hong Kong the solid foundation to act as a "super connector" and a "super value-adder" connecting China and countries around the world.

Hong Kong and Saudi Arabia have nurtured a close friendship and partnership over the years, especially since the visit to Riyadh by our Chief Executive last year. The signing of the Memorandum will no doubt strengthen the relationship between Hong Kong and Saudi Arabia to the next level by enhancing our communication, collaboration and co-operation on issues relating to dispute avoidance and resolution, and facilitating development of the related services. I am very confident that the Memorandum will promote cross-fertilisation of legal talent and encourage exchanges between the legal profession of the two jurisdictions at the international level. It is worth mentioning that the Department of Justice is going to establish the Hong Kong International Legal Talents Training Academy. Pursuant to the Memorandum of Understanding we signed, our initiative in this respect, namely the setting up of the Hong Kong International Legal Talents Training Academy, will be one of the means to implement various objectives under the Memorandum.

Another thing that is worth mentioning to highlight Hong Kong's status as an international legal and dispute resolution services centre is that Hong Kong is going to host the biennial International Council for Commercial Arbitration Congress from May 5 to 8 this year. This is the most important international commercial arbitration event. Representatives of the Ministry of Justice of Saudi Arabia and other interested participants from Saudi Arabia are most welcome to join this important event.

Lastly, I would like to express my gratitude to Saudi Arabia for their trust and support, and the warm hospitality that they extended to the Hong Kong delegation led by the Deputy Secretary of Justice, Mr Horace Cheung, during their visit in Riyadh last month for participating in the Riyadh International Disputes Week. I myself will also lead a delegation from the legal and dispute resolution sectors and other related sectors to visit Saudi Arabia in a few weeks' time. So the timing for the signing of this Memorandum of Understanding is perfect for my upcoming visit. It lays a very good foundation for Hong Kong and Saudi Arabia to further discuss and exchange on various areas of legal co-operation. I very much look forward to the upcoming visit as well as the myriad opportunities to deepen collaboration and co-operation between our two respective jurisdictions in the future, which would be in the mutual interests of Hong Kong and Saudi Arabia. Thank you very much.

High-level meeting with japanese officials: urgent concerns over fukushima's nuclear contaminated water discharge

The Secretary for Environment and Ecology, Mr Tse Chin-wan, met the Parliamentary Vice-Minister for Agriculture, Forestry and Fisheries, Mr Takahashi Mitsuo, and the Consul-General of Japan in Hong Kong, Mr Kenichi Okada, today (May 3) upon request and discussed about the discharge of nuclear-contaminated water in Japan.

Mr Tse reiterated at the meeting that the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region (HKSAR) Government has come to the view that there is currently no guarantee from the Japanese authorities that their purification and dilution system can operate continuously and effectively in the long term, and that the discharge will not pose any potential risks to food safety and marine ecology. Safeguarding food safety and public health in Hong Kong is the responsibility of the HKSAR Government, thus corresponding precautionary measures must be taken. The HKSAR Government will closely monitor developments of the discharge, so as to obtain more monitoring and scientific data in order to further examine the impact of the Fukushima nuclear-contaminated water discharge on food safety, and keep under review relevant counter measures. Should anomalies be detected, the Government does not preclude further tightening the scope of the import ban.

In response to the Japanese Government's earlier decision to discharge nuclear-contaminated water at the Fukushima Nuclear PowerStation into the sea, the Director of Food and Environmental Hygiene issued a Food Safety Order which prohibits all aquatic products, sea salt and seaweeds originating from the 10 metropolis/prefectures, namely Tokyo, Fukushima, Ibaraki, Miyagi, Chiba, Gunma, Tochigi, Niigata, Nagano and Saitama, from being imported into and supplied in Hong Kong.For other aquatic products, sea salt, and unprocessed or processed seaweed from Japan that are not prohibited from being imported into Hong Kong, the Centre for Food Safety of the Food and Environmental Hygiene Department will conduct comprehensive radiological tests to verify that the radiation levels of these products do not exceed the guideline levels before they are allowed to be supplied in the market.

Besides, all vegetables, fruits, milk, milk beverages and dried milk originating from Fukushima are banned from importing into Hong Kong while such foods originating from the four prefectures nearby Fukushima, i.e. Ibaraki, Tochigi, Chiba and Gunma, are allowed to be imported on the condition that they are accompanied with a radiation certificate and an exporter certificate issued by the Japanese authority. Chilled or frozen game, meat and poultry, and poultry eggs originating from the above five prefectures are allowed to be imported on the condition that they are accompanied with a radiation certificate issued by the Japanese authority which shows the radiation levels do not exceed the guideline levels of the Codex Alimentarius Commission.

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