On March 24, 2021, the seminar on "the Future of British Chinese Commercial Mediation" jointly sponsored by Center for Common Law Renmin University of China and China-Britain Business Council was successfully held online. More than ten experts attended the meeting to deliver speeches who were from the Ministry of justice of the People's Republic of China, China-Britain Business Council, Renmin University of China, Oxford University, the University of Hong Kong, the Xiamen Maritime Court, Centre for Effective Dispute Resolution and other institutions. Dr. Li Hu, deputy director of China Maritime Arbitration Commission (CMAC for short), was invited to attend the meeting and participate in the discussion and exchange. Mr. Cyril Poulopoulos, deputy director of China-Britain Business Council, presided over the seminar. There experts delivered keynote speeches. They were Lord Phillips, former first president of the British Supreme Court and former chief justice of England and Wales, and Professor Fan Yu, Law School of Renmin University of China.

Lord Phillips said that mediation, as an efficient and flexible way of dispute resolution, respects the autonomy of the parties, saves time and judicial resources, and can effectively resolve disputes. He also calls on China and Britain to strengthen cooperation in mediation and jointly do a good job in the settlement of commercial disputes under the background of the entry into force of the Singapore Convention.

Professor Fan Yu introduced the development history, types and problems of mediation in China. She said that in recent years, China tries to establish a diversified dispute resolution mechanism. Through a series of legislative, judicial interpretation, administrative norms and other channels, it has continuously promoted the development and use of mediation. After the signing of the Singapore Convention, China's mediation career in the future will be promising.

The conference includes two parts: "Mediation Practice and Future Direction" and "Singapore Convention and Its Domestic Implementation". Deputy director Li Hu delivered a special speech on the topic of "Linkage of China's Commercial Mediation Practice and Singapore Convention" in the part of "Singapore Convention and Its Domestic Implementation". He said that the Chinese people have always valued peace and are unwilling to take disputes to court. Mediation is widely used in social life. China is a signatory of the Singapore Convention. After the Singapore Convention enters into force for China, the international settlement agreement resulting from mediation can be enforced in the member states of the Convention. However, under the current domestic legal framework, the settlement agreement based on mediation does not have the legal effect of enforcement in mainland China, so mediation usually needs to be combined with other dispute resolution methods to obtain enforcement. He respectively introduced the four ways of combination in practice, such as "Mediation Arbitration Docking", "Mediation Litigation Docking", " Litigation Mediation Arbitration Docking", and "Mediation Notarization Docking". After the entry into force of the Singapore Convention, we need to consider the enforcement of the settlement agreement reached by mediation in China from the legal level, and make a good connection with the Convention. He said that CMAC has established a litigation mediation docking mechanism with the maritime court. So far, CMAC has successfully handled hundreds of cases through mediation and accumulated rich experience. CMAC’s litigation mediation docking mechanism has effectively respected the party's autonomy of will, and protected the party's legitimate rights.