Between 3 – 6 December 2023, UNIDROIT undertook a series of meetings and events in Beijing. It was the Institute’s first visit to the capital city of the People’s Republic of China since 2019.
On Monday 4 December, UNIDROIT visited the Ministry of Commerce (MOFCOM) to undertake meetings with senior officials from the Treaty and Law Department. On Tuesday 5 December, UNIDROIT visited the China Council for the Promotion of International Trade (CCPIT) to meet with senior officials from the Department of Legal Affairs, including Deputy Director Zheng Wei, Deputy Director General Shen Peilan and Division of Legal Cooperation Vice Director Yang Zhaoying. The constructive meeting allowed UNIDROIT and the CCPIT to discuss the use of UNIDROIT instruments to facilitate both inbound and outbound trade and investment in China.
UNIDROIT delegation visit to the China Council for the Promotion of International Trade
UNIDROIT also undertook meetings with international institutions in Beijing, including the Asian Bank for Infrastructure and Development (AIIB). On 5 December, a UNIDROIT delegation visited the AIIB Headquarters to meet with members of the Legal Department. During the visit, UNIDROIT Secretary-General Ignacio Tirado and Senior Legal Officer William Brydie-Watson delivered a presentation as part of the AIIB’s Law and Development Information Series on Strengthening AIIB-UNIDROIT Cooperation to Support Legal Reform, Facilitate Access to Credit, and Build Sustainable Infrastructure. The presentation focused on how UNIDROIT’s instruments in the field of Access to Credit (with a particular focus on the Luxembourg Rail Protocol and Mining, Agriculture and Construction (MAC) Protocol to the Cape Town Convention) support the work of the AIIB in its four priority areas of green infrastructure, connectivity and regional cooperation, technology-enabled infrastructure and private capital mobilization.
In relation to academic cooperation, UNIDROIT visited three university campuses while in Beijing. On 4 December, UNIDROIT Secretary-General Ignacio Tirado and Senior Legal Officer William Brydie-Watson visited the University of International Business and Economics (UIBE). Secretary of the CPC Committee of UIBE HUANG Baoyin met with the high-level UNIDROIT delegation to discuss additional cooperative initiatives under the UNIDROIT – UIBE Cooperation MOU, signed in 2017 (the first such agreement ever negotiated with an academic institution in China). Over the last six years, the UNIDROIT – UIBE Cooperation MOU has facilitated many activities, including a 2019 international legal conference on UNIDROIT instruments in Beijing and the selection of a number of UIBE scholars and interns to undertake research and study at the UNIDROIT Headquarters in Rome. UIBE Vice President HONG Junjie, Director of UIBE International Office LI Xiaomeng, Dean of Law School MEI Xiaying, Vice Dean of Law School GONG Hongliu and UNIDROIT Correspondent for China JI Wenhua, attended the meeting. The UNIDROIT delegation subsequently visited UIBE Law School and delivered a lecture to law faculty staff and students on UNIDROIT’s legislative and non-legislative work. The lecture was organized and chaired by Professor Ji Wenhua. Dean of UIBE Law School Mei Xiaying delivered welcome remarks and expressed the willingness for further cooperation with UNIDROIT.
UNIDROIT delegation delivers a lecture to UIBE faculty and students in Beijing |
 UNIDROIT Secretary-General Ignacio Tirado meetings with UIBE Vice President HONG Junjie in Beijing |
Also on 4 December, UNIDROIT visited the Renmin University of China (RUC). Facilitated by UNIDROIT Governing Council member Professor Jingxia Shi, UNIDROIT met with RUC Vice President WANG Yi and the RUC Law School Dean HUANG Wenyi to discuss new avenues of cooperation. The campus visit also allowed the Secretary-General to sign a new UNIDROIT – RUC Cooperation MOU with the RUC Vice President (the fifth such academic cooperation agreement signed with an academic institution in China). Following the signing ceremony, RUC invited the Secretary-General to deliver a presentation to the law faculty on the role of UNIDROIT in harmonising international private law to support economic growth and development. Following the Secretary-General’s lecture, UNIDROIT Scholarship, Internship and Research Programme (USIRP) Coordinator Laura Tikanvaara and Senior Legal Officer William Brydie-Watson presented on the UNIDROIT’s non-legislative activities, with a particular focus on the USIRP Programme. The presentations were then commented on by RUC Professor DING XIANG-SHUN and Professor SHI Jingxia.
Finally, on 5 December, UNIDROIT visited the China University of Political Science and Law (CUPL). Facilitated by CUPL Professor Shuai Guo (seconded to UNIDROIT as a legal expert), the campus visit allowed the UNIDROIT delegation to tour CUPL’s library facilities. During the visit, the delegation met with CUPL President MA Huaide, Dean of the School of International Law KONG Qingjiang, Director of the Office of International Cooperation and Exchange (OICE) LI Juqian, OICE Deputy Director TANG Yan and OICE Section Chief for Global Partnerships and Exchange SHU Dangyi. In a further effort to strengthen academic ties with Chinese academia, the UNIDROIT Secretary-General and the CUPL President signed a UNIDROIT – CUPL Cooperation MOU (the sixth and most recent academic cooperation agreement signed with an academic institution in China). The Dean of the CUPL School of Law then invited the Secretary-General Ignacio Tirado, Senior Legal Officer William Brydie-Watson and the UNIDROIT Scholarship, Internship and Research Programme Coordinator Laura Tikanvaara to deliver a lecture to CUPL law students, introducing the Institute’s origins, mandate, methodology, main instruments, current work programme, as well as the work of the UNIDROIT Academy.
UNDROIT delegation visits the China University of Political Science and Law (CUPL)
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UNIDROIT Secretary-General Ignacio Tirado and CUPL President MA Huiade sign Cooperation MOU
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Professor Iacopo Donati is the UNIDROIT/Bank of Italy Chair Holder and is mainly responsible for assisting in the Bank Insolvency project. He is Professor of Corporate and Insolvency Law at the University of Siena, and coordinates the research project ‘Pro.Re.Ba.’ (Proportionating rules on bank crisis prevention and management to the case of retail banks), which has received funding from the Italian Ministry of University. He has previously taught corporate law at the University of Venice ‘Ca’ Foscari’, at the University of Florence and at the University of Rome ‘Tor Vergata’.
rtered Institute of Arbitrators (London). He further holds a post-graduate diploma in law from the Kenya School of Law. Allan is also a scholar from the Hague Academy of International Law.
rofessor Ignacio Tirado was appointed Secretary-General by the Governing Council at its 97th session, and officially took office on 27 August 2018. A national of Spain, Professor Tirado (Commercial, Corporate and Insolvency Law, Universidad Autónoma of Madrid, Spain) holds a PhD from the Universities of Bologna and Autónoma de Madrid and an LLM from the University of London. Professor Tirado has been a Senior Legal Consultant at the World Bank’s Legal Vice-Presidency and Financial Sector Practice for more than nine years, having also consulted for the IMF on insolvency related matters as well as for the Asian Development Bank on commercial legal reform.
A Swedish national, Ms Lena Peters grew up in Italy where she attended an English school. In 1978 she took her Juris Kandidatexamen at Stockholm University followed by a Master of Laws from King’s College, London (1979). Since 1985 she has been with UNIDROIT, first as Research Officer, lastly as Principal Legal Officer, her main duties being Secretary to the Working Group for the Preparation of Principles of International Commercial Contracts, Secretary to the Study Group on Franchising, Secretary to the Committee of Governmental Experts on Franchising.She also collaborated on the project for the preparation of the ELI-Unidroit Model European Rules of Civil Procedure. She is currently Managing Editor of the Uniform Law Review and responsible for publications at UNIDROIT.
Marina Schneider is Principal Legal Officer and Treaty Depositary at UNIDROIT. She studied law at the University of Strasbourg (France) and Paris I – Panthéon Sorbonne. She joined the UNIDROIT in 1987 and was involved in the elaboration and French versions of most UNIDROIT instruments since. She is in charge of the 1995 UNIDROIT Convention on Stolen or Illegally Exported Cultural Objects and of the UNESCO-UNIDROIT Model Provisions on State Ownership of Undiscovered Cultural Objects. She is the author of the Explanatory Report of the 1995 Convention and many articles on the Convention and other international instruments in the field. Ms Schneider is also responsible for the project on private collections and for the UNIDROIT Convention Academic Project (UCAP). She is member of the Board of the International Society for Research on Art and Cultural Heritage Law (ISCHAL).
Professor of Commercial Law, Carlos III University of Madrid. Currently, Sir Roy Goode Scholar at UNIDROIT, Rome, 2021-2022. Chair of Excellence 2017-2018 at University of Oxford (Uc3m- Santander Program), affiliated to Harris Manchester College. Previously Distinguished Visiting Professor and fellow of a number of Academic Institutions. Arbitrator of Madrid Court of Arbitration. Member of ELI (European Law Institute) Council and Executive Committee. Member of the Expert Group of the European Commission on Liability and New Technologies and member of the Expert Group of the European Observatory of Platform Economy; the International Academy of Commercial and Consumer Law; the expert group of the Inclusive Global Legal Innovation Platform for Online Dispute Resolution – UNCITRAL and Hong Kong Department of Justice. Expert of the UNIDROIT Study Group on the MAC Protocol of the Cape Town Convention on International Interests. Delegate of Spain to UNIDROIT for the adoption of the Protocol, delegate of Spain in Working Group VI of UNCITRAL on secured transactions and in Working Group IV on Electronic Commerce. Member of UNIDROIT Working Groups on Enforcement and Warehouse Receipts.
William Brydie-Watson is an Australian lawyer who specialises in secured transactions law and private international law. Before joining UNIDROIT, William was a government lawyer in the Private International Law and International Arbitration section of the Australian Attorney-General’s Department, where he worked primarily on treaty negotiation and the implementation of private international law treaties in Australia. At UNIDROIT, he is primarily responsible for the implementation of the Mining, Agriculture and Construction (MAC Protocol) to the 2001 Cape Town Convention on International Interests in Mobile Equipment and the development of a Model Law on Factoring. William also serves as UNIDROIT’s liaison with the Asia Pacific Economic Cooperation (APEC) forum and as manager of the Institute’s Scholarship and Internship Programme. Admitted to practice in New South Wales and the High Court of Australia, he has a Bachelor of Arts (honours), a Bachelor of Laws and a Master of Laws from the Australian National University. William also lectures on International Secured Transactions Law at the Eotvos Lorand Faculty of Law in Budapest.