On February 27, Wang Chengjie, the Vice Chairman and Secretary-General, led the CIETAC delegation to Africa to jointly hold a symposium for Chinese enterprises with the Chinese Enterprises Association in Cameroon in Yaoundé, the capital of Cameroon, in order to gain an in-depth understanding of the development of Chinese-funded enterprises in Cameroon and their demands for dispute resolution services. Chairmen of more than 20 local Chinese-funded enterprises, including China Harbour Central Africa Region Company, CGCOC Group Cameroon Company, Huawei Technologies Cameroon Co., Ltd., China First Highway Engineering Central Africa Region Center, Cameroon Branch of China Shenyang International Economic and Technical Cooperation Co., Ltd., Sinosteel Cameroon Co., Ltd., China Machinery Engineering Corporation (CMEC), China ComService Cameroon Co., Ltd., SinoHydro Bureau 16 Co. Ltd., and Sinopec Cameroon ADDAX Petroleum Company, participated in this symposium. Chen Yaou, the Minister-Counselor of the Chinese Embassy and Consulate in Cameroon, and Chen Ze, the President of the Chinese Enterprises Association in Cameroon, attended the meeting and delivered speeches. Zhu Xiaodong, the Secretary-General of the Chinese Enterprises Association in Cameroon, presided over the meeting. 

(Scene of the symposium)

In their speeches, Minister-Counselor Chen Yaou and President Chen Ze extended a warm welcome to CIETAC's visit to Cameroon. They believed that a symposium for Chinese enterprises in Cameroon organized by CIETAC to investigate the business risks of enterprises in Cameroon, popularize arbitration legal knowledge, and enhance enterprises' risk prevention capabilities was a practical measure that met the needs of enterprises, and was popular and highly affirmed by enterprises.

The theme of the symposium was "Enterprise Legal Risk Prevention and Dispute Resolution". In response to the practical difficulties encountered by the Chinese enterprises when introducing their basic situations in Cameroon and during business negotiations, especially negotiations on dispute resolution clauses, Secretary-General Wang Chengjie provided a "CIETAC Toolkit" for enterprises in Cameroon from a practical perspective, based on the situations learned from handling a large number of international cases by CIETAC, especially those related to the Belt and Road  Initiative. The representatives of the participating enterprises stated that through the discussions, they strengthened their understanding of arbitration and enhanced their knowledge of CIETAC. This would help them better safeguard their rights and interests and control overseas operation risks by formulating effective and favorable dispute resolution clauses during project negotiations in the future. 

(Secretary-General Wang Chengjie delivering a speech)

The businesses of the enterprises participating in this symposium covered a wide range of fields such as construction project, electronic communication, energy, and trade. Secretary-General Wang Chengjie shared relevant case-managing practices of CIETAC, providing new ideas, new perspectives, and new solutions for enterprise legal risk prevention and dispute resolution in foreign-related arbitration, which was well received by the enterprises.

Brad Wang, the Deputy Secretary-General of CIETAC Hong Kong Arbitration Center, and Li Xuefei from the Business Development Department of CIETAC accompanied and participated in the meeting.