After five months of preparation, the 19th CIETAC Cup International Commercial Arbitration Moot Court hosted by China International Economic and Trade Arbitration Commission (CIETAC) was successfully held from November 28 to December 3, 2021. This year, the competition attracted nearly 800 participants from 75 teams, and for the first time, participants from the United Kingdom, the Republic of Uzbekistan and Malaysia joined the teams from domestic law schools. CIETAC had the honor of inviting over 200 arbitrators from 22 countries and regions to serve as judges in the competition. The competition is grand in scale and unprecedented in grandeur.

After 157 rounds of fierce competition in 5 days, the team from the Peking University of China won the championship and the team from the East China University of Political Science and Law won the second place, bringing great honor for their institutions. They will participate in the 29th Willem C. Vis Commercial Arbitration Moot in Vienna, Austria, and the 19th Vis Moot (East) in Hong Kong, under the sponsorship of CIETAC.

The award ceremony of the 19th CIETAC Cup was held on the afternoon of December 3, 2021. Over 100,000 people streamed on the live broadcast online. Wang Chengjie, Vice Chairman and Secretary-General of CIETAC, addressed the ceremony on behalf of the host. He pointed out that in order to effectively tackle the new challenges from outside environment, we shall further raise legal talents with global perspective, knowledge on international practice, and profound understanding of foreign related laws in order to promote the Belt and Road Initiative and contribute to global communication and cooperation. As the earliest established foreign related arbitration institution, CIETAC had attached great importance to the nurturing of talents. As early as in 2000, to meet China’s social and economic need after the accession to the World Trade Organization, CIETAC established the CIETAC Cup Moot Court. In recent years, CIETAC summarized its experience and explored innovative means for the cultivation of talents, and have shown new highlights in the 19th CIETAC Cup: the increasing level of internationalization, more diversified activities and more extensive ways to advertise. In the future, CIETAC will take further measures to nurture young talents, help forming a team of foreign related talents, safeguarding the construction of the shared faith of mankind.

（Wang Chengjie, Vice Chairman and Secretary-General of CIETAC, addressing the award ceremony）

Professor Lu Song delivered a speech on behalf of the arbitrators at the award ceremony. He highly regarded the important role of CIETAC Cup in the training of young talents for arbitration in China. Competitors developed their comprehensive ability, broadened their horizons and even decided to start their career in commercial disputes resolution through the discussion on proactive issues in international commercial arbitration and international trade law during the competition.

（Professor Lu Song delivering a speech on behalf of the arbitrators）

Since its establishment, the CIETAC Cup has opened the door to the professional of international commercial arbitration for many law students. Plenty of participants have grown into new forces in the international arbitration and become the important intellectual resources to promote the international competitiveness of arbitration in China. In order to establish an effective connection network, CIETAC officially launched the CIETAC Cup Alumni Association on the occasion of the 19th CIETAC Cup to promote the cultivation and communication of law school students. This year, for the first time CIETAC joined hands with international organizations and many well-known law firms to organize the “Voice of CIETAC Cup”, which was a series of trainings to provide guidance and answers to young talents, deepen their understanding of international arbitration and international trade law, effectively bridging their understanding of theory and practice. The 5 live broadcasts of the trainings were watched over 50,000 times online. In addition, the quarter-finals, semi-finals and the final were streamed in full online, with more than 200,000 viewers.

（the Final）

(the Semi-Finals)

The CIETAC Cup represents the highest-level international commercial arbitration moot court in English in China. It is also the recognized global heats and the regional competition in China of the most internationally influential pre-moot of the Willem C. Vis Moot. It has attracted numerous outstanding students, helped them to gain knowledge, friendship and faith. It has been the starting point for them to grow and join into the construction of the rule of law. CIETAC will take further measures to nurture young talents, by hosting CIETAC Cups, building CIETAC Cup Alumni Association, and improving training mechanism. We would help forming a team of foreign related talents, safeguarding the construction of the shared faith of mankind.