Legal link: Canada's Minister of Justice and Attorney General Robert Nicholson and Secretary for Justice Wong Yan Lung meet in Ottawa.

Secretary for Justice Wong Yan Lung is visiting Ottawa and Toronto in Canada to boost ties and promote Hong Kong as a dispute-resolution centre for the Asia Pacific.

He will meet senior legal and judicial figures, and representatives of the legal profession, business sector and non-governmental organisations, to brief them on the city's rule-of-law situation and its latest developments as a regional centre for international arbitration.

Beginning a three-day visit in Ottawa today, Mr Wong attended a roundtable luncheon to exchange views with members of the Hong Kong-Canada Business Association and Canada-Hong Kong Parliamentary Friendship Group.

He met Canada's Minister of Justice and Attorney General Robert Douglas Nicholson and Supreme Court Chief Justice Beverley McLachlin.

On October 7, Mr Wong will have a roundtable breakfast hosted by the Canadian Council of International Law before meeting the Department of Foreign Affairs & International Trade's Legal Adviser Alan Kessel.

He will leave for Toronto in the afternoon, where he will call on the Alternative Dispute Resolution Institute of Ontario to get first-hand information on their best practices on arbitration and mediation.

On October 8, Mr Wong will give a speech at a luncheon hosted by the Canadian Club of Toronto and supported by the Hong Kong-Canada Business Association.

He will also meet Ontario Attorney General Chris Bentley, hold meetings with representatives of the Ontario Bar Association and Law Society of Upper Canada, and visit St Stephen's Community House Mediation Service. He will leave for Hong Kong on October 9.