Li Houlong, Secretary of the Party Committee and President of Nanjing Maritime Court(hereinafter referred to as "NMC"), led a research visit to the Jiangsu Free Trade Zone (Hereinafter referred to as“FTZ”) Nanjing Area on November 23,2020. Two sides had a deep discussion on the construction of FTZ and maritime judicial services. Liu Zhiwei, member of the Party Working Committee and Vice-president of the management committee in Nanjing Jiangbei New Area, presided over the meeting.

Liu Zhiwei extended a warm welcome to the arrival of NMC and introduced the overall situation of Jiangbei New Area and Jiangsu FTZ Nanjing Area. Officials of relevant departments gave an introduction to the economic transformation and development of the Jiangbei New Area Harbor Hub, the dispute resolution mechanism including mediation and arbitration in Jiangsu FTZ Nanjing Area, and the development of Nanjing Xiba Port Economic Zone, etc.

Li Houlong introduced maritime trials involving FTZ conducted by NMC and expected an in-depth understanding of the construction and related policies of Jiangsu FTZ Nanjing Area through the visit, so that NMC could provide better maritime judicial services for the development and innovation of the FTZ. Li Houlong pointed that NMC and Jiangbei New Area could cooperate on things as following: firstly, building a 24-hour maritime litigation self-service platform in FTZ to meet multiple judicial demands; secondly, carrying out forward-looking research on maritime disputes related to FTZ policies in order to prevent and resolve business risks; thirdly, promoting multiple collaboration on working mechanisms  concerning ascertainment of foreign law etc, so as to help companies "go global";fourthly, exploring professional, international and convenient trial mechanism for maritime cases in FTZ to optimize the business environment of FTZ. Liu Zhiwei expressed that openning-up and innovation are the essence of the Jiangbei New Area, and there will be broader cooperation space between both sides because of the new “dual circulation” development pattern in which domestic and international economy can boost each other. He said that NMC will be based at Nanjing Legal Zone in the future, which is of great significance to enhance the influence of Jiangbei New Area. With more and more companies settling in Jiangbei New Area, the demand for maritime and admiralty judicial services will increase. He expected to strengthen cooperation with NMC, establish information exchange mechanisms, jointly help companies prevent risks and resolve disputes, create an optimal location for resolving maritime disputes and jointly promote the development of FTZ to a higher level.

Yang Changshun, member of the Party Committee and vice-president of NMC, officials from relevant departments of Jiangbei New Area and members from Maritime Tribunal of NMC attended the meeting.