BRI needs to embrace international arbitration

THE gigantic Belt and Road Initiative (BRI) has profound implications, and not just for the economies it will encompass. It will also transform legal systems, as participating countries work out how to ensure contracts to build huge infrastructure projects are implemented and completed on time and without dispute.

This feat could be as difficult to achieve as building any new bridge, port or rail link along the BRI's vast network connecting Asia, Central and Western Europe and the Middle East. Although there is no official consensus, so far, 103 countries and international organisations have signed 118 cooperation agreements with the People's Republic of China (PRC) under the framework of the BRI according to recent statistics released by the PRC's National Development and Reform Commission.

It is critical to the success of regional economic initiatives, like BRI, to have in place an effective and trusted cross-border dispute resolution system that can work for all participating countries from diverse legal systems and geopolitical interests.