Great Potential of Judicial Exchange and Cooperation among BRICS Countries
On the afternoon of June 19, the BRICS Chief Justices Forum closed in Sochi, Russian Federation, and the Joint Statement of the BRICS Chief Justices Forum (the "Joint Statement”) was signed to summarize the outcomes and agreements reached at the forum. Zhang Jun, the Chief Justice of the People’s Republic of China and the President of the Supreme People’s Court, attended the closing ceremony and delivered a speech.
The Joint Statement emphasizes that judicial dialogues among BRICS countries help BRICS countries to realize their goals, strengthen cooperation among the highest courts of BRICS countries, and promote mutual trust and friendship among countries and their peoples. Additionally, the Joint Statement has conducted in-depth exchanges and discussions and reached a broad consensus to unify adjudication standards, uphold the principles of fairness and equality of rights, protect the rights of investors in accordance with laws, facilitate the settlement of economic disputes, strengthen the protection of human rights in criminal proceedings, enhance and regulate the application of information technology in judicial adjudication, and advance the harmonization of legislation among BRICS countries.
On behalf of the Supreme People’s Court of China, Zhang Jun expressed his warm congratulations on the success of the BRICS Chief Justices Forum. He pointed out that this BRICS Chief Justices Forum, as the first high-level judicial forum held after the expansion of BRICS countries, is a positive, pragmatic and fruitful forum that promotes friendship, builds consensus, summarizes past experience, paves the way for future collaboration, and has milestone significance. With a sincere desire to promote cooperation and seek common development, the delegates at the forum conducted in-depth discussions on issues of common concern to enhance consensus. This will surely have a far-reaching impact on the promotion of judicial exchanges and cooperation among the BRICS countries and even in the international community. Mr. Zhang emphasized that justice is not only a powerful means to safeguard the reform, development and common prosperity of all countries, but also an important bridge for close communication and cooperation. He highlighted the significant potential for judicial exchange and cooperation among BRICS countries. He also called for BRICS countries to deepen pragmatic cooperation in all judicial fields and to comprehensively enhance the level of rule of law, contributing to the stable and long-term development of the BRICS cooperation mechanism and the building of a community with a shared future for mankind.
Huo Min, the Chief Justice of the People’s Republic of China and the President of the Shandong High People’s Court, and Dilshat Sayim, the President of the Xinjiang High People’s Court, delivered speeches on the topics of “Protection of Investor Rights” and “Use of Information Technology in Court Procedures” respectively, to introduce the judicial concepts and practices of Chinese courts.
Irina Podnosova, the Chief Justice of the Supreme Court of the Russian Federation, hosted the closing ceremony and delivered a speech. Boissie Mbha (the Justice of the Supreme Court of Appeal of the Republic of South Africa), Mohammed Hamad Albadi Al-Dhaheri (the President of the Federal Supreme Court of the United Arab Emirates), Hosny Abdel Latif (the President of the Supreme Court of Appeal of the Arab Republic of Egypt), Tewodros Mihret (the Chief Justice of the Federal Democratic Republic of Ethiopia), Surya Kant (the Justice of the Supreme Court of the Republic of India), Mohammad Jafar Montazeri (the President of the Supreme Court of the Islamic Republic of Iran), and Valentin Sukalo (the President of the Supreme Court of the Republic of Belarus) delivered speeches at the closing ceremony.