Chief Executive John Lee and Secretary for Justice Paul Lam held separate meetings with Minister of Justice He Rong who led a delegation to Hong Kong on July 17.

Mr Lee welcomed Ms He's visit to Hong Kong and thanked the Ministry of Justice for its support to the work of the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region Government and its promotion of co-operation of the Mainland and Hong Kong legal professions.

He said that the relevant efforts could facilitate the local legal sector's further integration into national development, contributing to the country's high-quality development.

The Chief Executive and Ms He also exchanged views on areas such as deepening co-operation on legal services among Guangdong, Hong Kong and Macau, and cultivating legal talent.

Both officials signed a record of meeting to further deepen exchanges and co-operation on talent nurturing and legal and dispute resolution services between both places.

The record of meeting establishes a two-way mechanism on nurturing legal talent in the Mainland and Hong Kong to deepen the implementation of the Framework Arrangement on Legal Talent Exchanges & Training Cooperation between the Ministry of Justice and the Department of Justice, and to jointly explore different forms of co-operation on nurturing legal talent.

It also enhances support for the Guangdong-Hong Kong-Macao Greater Bay Area (GBA) lawyers and Hong Kong resident lawyers practising in the Mainland, and explores the expansion of the scope of practice of GBA lawyers and Hong Kong resident lawyers who have obtained Mainland practice qualifications.

Additionally, the record of meeting promotes exchanges and co-operation on international commercial arbitration and mediation as well as supports the establishment of a co-operation mechanism for dispute resolution institutions in the GBA.

Mr Lam noted that the signing of the record of meeting will consolidate Hong Kong's status as a centre for international legal and dispute resolution services in the Asia-Pacific region under the National 14th Five-Year Plan.

Minister He supplemented that the Ministry of Justice would support Hong Kong's legal sector to provide quality legal services and rule of law safeguards for the GBA development and the steadfast and successful implementation of “one country, two systems”.