China News Service, Haikou, October 22 (Reporter Wang Xiaobin) The reporter learned from the press conference held by the Hainan Provincial Information Office on the 22nd that during the 2026 Hainan Free Trade Port Legal Week, the Hainan Provincial Lawyers Association and the Pan-African Lawyers Union (PALU) signed a cooperation framework agreement. The two parties will establish a normalized cooperation mechanism in the three fields of foreign-related legal talent training, cross-border legal service collaboration, and cross-border diversified dispute resolution. This is new progress for the Hainan Free Trade Port to further expand its foreign-related legal service network and deepen China-Africa legal practical cooperation.
The Pan-African Lawyers Alliance is a representative regional lawyer organization in Africa. Tao Weiwei, vice president of the Hainan Provincial Lawyers Association, introduced at the press conference that during this legal week, African guests such as the Chairman of the Pan-African Lawyers Alliance and the Deputy Ambassador of Kenya to China were invited to attend. After completing the signing at the opening ceremony, both parties made it clear that they would establish a normalized cooperation mechanism. At the same time, the Provincial Lawyers Association has also completed collective contracts with the European South China Chamber of Commerce Alliance, the China-ASEAN Legal Service Center, the Asia-Pacific International Arbitration Court and other institutions to further develop a cross-regional legal service network.
According to data from the Ministry of Commerce, China has maintained its status as Africa's largest trading partner for 17 consecutive years. Companies investing in Africa face an increasingly complex legal environment. Focusing on this practical need, this Legal Week held for the first time the "Special Session on Trade and Investment of Chinese Enterprises in Africa". Experts from the Chinese and African legal circles and overseas entrepreneurs conducted in-depth dismantling and compliance diagnosis on pain points such as investment access, mineral energy compliance, labor and environmental protection, taxation and foreign exchange in different African legal jurisdictions.
In addition to the China-Africa cooperation section, this year's Legal Week also made many progresses in the construction of the overall foreign-related legal service system. Fu Qiongfen, president of the Hainan Provincial Lawyers Association, said that this year’s Law Week had guests from 26 countries and regions participating, and the number of overseas guests increased by 20% compared with the previous session. For the first time, the Ministry of Justice of Singapore was led by the Deputy Minister, and the Secretary for Justice of the Hong Kong SAR Government attended and delivered a speech. In terms of the implementation of results, the first joint venture law firm in Qiongang and Hong Kong after the closure of the border was officially unveiled, and the Hainan Overseas Chinese Federation Overseas Legal Service Group was established. In addition, the Hainan Provincial Lawyers Association’s supply and demand docking platform for foreign-related legal services was also officially launched during this legal week.
Tao Weiwei said that Hainan's legal industry will rely on the newly launched supply and demand docking platform and the cooperation mechanism with the Pan-African Lawyers Alliance to carry out regular exchanges of visits and joint training between Chinese and African lawyers; at the same time, closely following Hainan's "Five Directions" industrial direction and the investment needs of enterprises in Africa in new energy, modern agriculture, infrastructure and other fields, organize the preparation of country-specific legal risk prevention guidelines, and provide one-stop services of "due diligence and compliance beforehand, risk management and control during the event, and diversified dispute resolution after the event."
