Hong Kong is striving to develop its maritime arbitration, Secretary for Justice of China's Hong Kong Special Administrative Region (SAR) government Teresa Cheng said on Saturday.

She hoped more mainland shipping enterprises will choose Hong Kong as an arbitration venue.

"As we are one of the busiest ports in the world, maritime legal services have become an integral part of Hong Kong," Cheng said, noting that Hong Kong has a broad pool of legal practitioners to provide high-end maritime law and arbitration services to shippers, ship owners and commodities owners in aspects such as ship financing, ship broking, ship building and maritime insurance.

The department of Justice spares no efforts in promoting the "Mediate First" Pledge event, a brand which was built up by the department. The first inaugural event was held recently in Shanghai, attracting 170 participants from different enterprises as well as the legal and mediation sectors, according to Cheng.

"We will continue to introduce this event to other places and let more overseas enterprises know about it in order to further enhance the development of mediation," she said.

In fact, mediation by a neutral mediator could be a feasible means to break stalemates, Cheng said, adding that although an immediate resolution might not be possible, the process of mediation provides a communication platform which enables people to narrow their differences or review their circumstances, thereby paving the way for further negotiation of an ultimate settlement.

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