To implement the spirit of President Xi Jinping's important speech at the 20th Meeting of the Council of Heads of State of the SCO (Moscow Summit) and the spirit of the 15th Meeting of Heads of the Supreme Courts of the SCO Member States, CNISCO hosted SCO Judges Seminar from 15 to 21 April. A total of 27 judges from Kazakhstan, Russia, Tajikistan and Uzbekistan attended the seminar online.
In the afternoon of Apr. 15, the Opening Ceremony for the Seminar was held at CNISCO. Vice President of the Supreme People's Court Yang Wanming, President of the Shanghai High People's Court Liu Xiayun, Director of the International Cooperation Bureau of the Supreme People's Court Gao Xiaoli, Vice President of the Shanghai High People's Court Mao Ronghua attended the ceremony. President of the Case Law Research Institute of China Law Society Hu Yunteng, President of the National Judges College Sun Xiaoyong, Vice President of Academy for International Business Officials Lei Hao and other officials attended the ceremony online in Beijing. Liu Xiaohong, president of Shanghai University of Political Science and Law and Director of CNISCO hosted the opening ceremony. In his speech, Yang Wanming pointed out that exchanges and cooperation in the judicial field are an important part of practical cooperation among SCO member states. In the face of major changes unseen in a century, member states should hold high the spirit of Shanghai, uphold the vision of a community with a shared future for mankind, strengthen contacts through video conferencing and online exchanges, deepen judicial exchanges and cooperation, and provide effective judicial services and guarantees for promoting green recovery of the world economy in the post-epidemic era. We should uphold multilateralism, follow the principle of extensive consultation, joint contribution and shared benefits, and formulate new initiatives and measures for practical cooperation in the judicial field, so as to inject new impetus into SCO cooperation in the post-epidemic era. We will actively expand the breadth and depth of international judicial cooperation, advocate and uphold the international rule of law, firmly uphold the international system with the United Nations at its core and the international order based on international law, and work to build a new type of international relations. Liu Xiaoyun said the people's courts have played an important role in promoting epidemic prevention in the new normal， and in controlling and ensuring sustainable and healthy economic and social development. The Shanghai court will take this seminar as an opportunity to further communicate with the courts of other member states, deepen cooperation in judicial services, guarantee epidemic prevention and control, promote the construction of One Belt One Road and other aspects, and strive for common development. Lei Hao said in his speech that this seminar, as the first foreign aid project successfully launched this year, has implemented the spirit of the One Belt One Road Initiative and strengthened the exchanges and interaction between China and SCO member states in the judicial field, which is of great significance. It is hoped that the seminar will help judges of the SCO member states deepen their understanding of China's judicial system and lay a solid foundation for future cooperation. Mr. Akhmezakirov Naili Rafisovich, Minister of the Department of Activity Protection of the Supreme Court of Kazakhstan, pointed out that the seminar had a positive impact on international judicial cooperation. He said that the Supreme Court of the Republic of Kazakhstan attaches great importance to the cooperation with the courts of the SCO member states. President of the Council of Judges of the Russian Federation, Justice Viktor Victorovich of the Supreme Court of the Russian Federation, expressed his gratitude to the Chinese organizers of the seminar, saying that during the COVID-19 epidemic, the dialogue between the courts of the member states was invaluable.