Hua highlighted the coming Belt and Road Forum in Beijing next month, stressing a shared vision between the initiative and HCCH to boost international legal cooperation.

She urged HCCH to continue to improve international rules to practise multilateralism and promote inclusiveness and mutual learning in civil and commercial laws to convey a spirit of fairness and justice.

On Hong Kong, she said: “The Pearl of the Orient is shining ever brighter, attesting to the success of ‘one country, two systems’ in Hong Kong. In the legal field, it has developed a new constitutional order based on China’s constitution and the Basic Law, by drawing on the strengths of both the common law and civil law and by combining the legal traditions of the East and the West.

“All these form the unique advantages of Hong Kong’s legal system.”

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She also hailed the city as a “bridge” between the Chinese legal system and foreign counterparts, as well as a “connector” of diverse traditions of the rule of law.

Hua urged the local legal sector to build up the city’s reputation in the rule of law and help establish Hong Kong as a leading centre for international legal and dispute resolution services in the Asia-Pacific region.

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She also tweeted later on Monday: “With strong backing of the motherland and the unique advantages of one country two systems, [Hong Kong] will surely establish a leading centre for [international] legal and dispute resolution services in the Asia-Pacific, and add one more title, a ‘centre of law’, to its already impressive resume.”

The event, which will last till Thursday, is being held at the University of Hong Kong.

It is centred on the theme “Access to Justice and Sustainable Development: The Impact of the HCCH in an Interconnected World”, with multiple sessions for experts in the field to exchange views.

Participants are also expected to discuss the possible future work of HCCH in the areas of transnational litigation and legal cooperation, international family and child protection law, and commercial, digital and financial law.

Also speaking at the opening, Hong Kong leader John Lee Ka-chiu said he was thankful for the strong support from the Ministry of Foreign Affairs in international exchanges and cooperation.

“Thanks to the unique principle of one country, two systems, Hong Kong maintains a robust and internationally recognised legal system, a rock-solid foundation for the rule of law,” Lee said.

“Integrity and professional competence remain the hallmarks of our judiciary, which exercises its judicial power independently in accordance with the Basic Law.

“All these enable Hong Kong to thrive as an international hub for finance, trade, shipping and legal services and, no less important, as the gateway bridging our country with the rest of the world,” he added.

He also stressed that Hong Kong’s legal services had been “very much involved in assisting belt and road projects and their partners”.

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Under the country’s 14th Five Year Plan, Hong Kong is to develop as a centre for international legal and dispute resolution services in the Asia-Pacific region.

Many international legal and dispute resolution bodies have set up offices in the city.

They include the Asian African Legal Consultative Organisation’s Hong Kong Regional Arbitration Centre, which opened here last year, and the International Organization for Mediation Preparatory Office, which followed earlier this year.

The HCCH’s Hong Kong regional office for the Asia-Pacific region was opened in 2012 and remains the only one in the region.

In his address at Monday’s forum, Hong Kong’s justice secretary Paul Lam Ting-kwok also pledged to foster a better and closer relationship with the HCCH, a move he called a “duty” amid national development blueprints such as the 14th Five-Year Plan and the belt and road scheme, as well as the Greater Bay Area development, under which the city is also designated to be an international legal and dispute resolution hub.

The bay area plan is Beijing’s ambition to link Hong Kong, Macau and nine mainland Chinese cities in the region into an economic and innovation powerhouse.

Lam said Hong Kong served as “a prime example to showcase the casual link between the rule of law and development”.

“Hong Kong is a highly developed international city. One of the bedrocks of the city’s success and prosperity is a high degree of rule of law based on its common law system, which continues to apply pursuant to guarantees contained in the Basic Law under the principle of one country, two systems,” Lam said.

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The Asia-Pacific Week is also the first in-person law conference of such scale since Hong Kong’s return to normality earlier this year after the Covid-19 pandemic.

Other guests who attended Monday’s opening included: acting foreign ministry commissioner in Hong Kong, Pan Yundong; Chief Justice Andrew Cheung Kui-nung; Legislative Council president Andrew Leung Kwan-yuen; and HCCH secretary general, Christophe Bernasconi.