On 14 December 2017, the Arrangement between the National Development and Reform Commission and the HKSAR Government for Advancing Hong Kong’s Full Participation in and Contribution to the Belt and Road Initiative was signed, which expressed support for Hong Kong to provide legal and dispute resolution services for the Belt and Road Initiative.

The “Outline of the 14th Five-Year Plan for National Economic and Social Development of the People’s Republic of China and the Long-Range Objectives Through the Year 2035” (March 2021) explicitly supports Hong Kong to establish itself as the centre for international legal and dispute resolution services in the Asia-Pacific region and fosters Hong Kong and Macao as functional platforms for the Belt and Road Initiative.

The Hong Kong SAR Government is very much committed to strengthening Hong Kong’s position as a deal-making hub and a leading centre for international legal and dispute resolution services in the Asia-Pacific region. This was underscored by the Chief Executive’s Policy Addresses in recent years and is one of the priorities of the DoJ.

To better cope with the challenges and to harness the additional opportunities offered by the Belt and Road Initiative, the Legal Enhancement and Development Office (LEAD Office) was established within the DoJ, which works directly under the steer of the Secretary for Justice.

The LEAD Office's objective is to facilitate access to justice and provide equal opportunities for people from all walks of life and for all sectors of the economy without boundary, advancing Goal 16 of the United Nations 2030 Sustainable Development Goals in this region and beyond. Goal 16 emphasises the promotion of peaceful and inclusive societies for sustainable development, the provision of access to justice for all and the building of effective, accountable and inclusive institutions at all levels.

The LEAD Office organises, supports or participates in a variety of capacity building and promotional activities held in Hong Kong in order to raise the international profile of Hong Kong:

(1)	the biennial United Nations Commission on International Trade Law Asia Pacific Judicial Summit;
(2)	the annual Hong Kong part of the training session of the China-Asian African Legal Consultative Organization Exchange and Research Program on International Law; and
(3)	conferences co-organised with local and domestic law-related organisations discussing a variety of international issues, including public private partnerships, investor-State dispute resolution mechanism, etc.

In order to strengthen the co-operation and exchange between the mediation professional bodies of Hong Kong and Shanghai, and to promote the use of mediation to resolve commercial disputes, the conference of "Development, Opportunities and Future of Mediation in Hong Kong, the Mainland China and World-wide cum the 4th Shanghai-Hong Kong Commercial Mediation Forum", co-organised by the Joint Mediation Helpline Office, the Hong Kong Mediation Council, the Shanghai Commercial Mediation Centre and the DoJ, was held in Hong Kong on 19 May 2018.

The DoJ and the Shanghai Municipal Bureau of Justice signed a co-operation agreement in August 2018 to promote exchange and co-operation between the legal professions in the two places, to enhance mutual support of the arbitration and mediation sectors, and to jointly promote arbitration and mediation. Exchanges and collaboration on the nurturing of talent of international arbitration and mediation will also be launched.

On 9 January 2019, the DoJ signed a Memorandum of Cooperation with the Ministry of Justice of Japan to strengthen the communication, collaboration and co-operation between the two sides on issues relating to international arbitration and mediation, including training and promotion of collaborative initiatives and exchanges, and to facilitate the development of services for international arbitration and mediation in Hong Kong and Japan.