Conference Introduction

The United Nations Commission on International Trade Law (UNCITRAL) is a core legal body of the United Nations system in the field of international trade law, which seeks to progressively harmonize and modernize trade laws by preparing and promoting the adoption and use of legal instruments in key areas of trade and commercial law. UNCITRAL RCAP (Incheon, Republic of Korea) was inaugurated in 2012 to promote the work of UNCITRAL in the Asia-Pacific region and provide technical assistance to the regional states concerning the implementation and uniform interpretation of UNCITRAL texts.

The University of Macau, founded in 1981, is the leading comprehensive public university in Macau. It is a resourceful and ambitious educational institution with a unique Sino-European heritage and global connections. Under the current Times Higher Education rankings, the University of Macau is ranked at 26th in the Young University Rankings, 37th in the Asia University Rankings and 193rd in the World University Rankings. The University of Macau is also ranked as No 1 in the Association of Portuguese Speaking Universities.

The Faculty of Law of the University of Macau, responsible for organizing the conference, is the oldest law school in Macau. With its diverse multilingual programs and teaching staff of international backgrounds, the Faculty has been playing a vital role in promoting legal education and research in Macau and contributing to the build-up of the local legal system. In addition, the Faculty of Law has also successfully held many high-level international conferences and meetings on a range of legal topics. The law school is unique and one of its kind in offering legal education in three distinct languages focusing on domestic, comparative and international laws in bachelor, master and Ph.D. programs.

The organization of the conference is also supported by key legal and arbitral institutions in the region, further details of which could be found the conference website and the poster.

To mark the 10th Anniversary, the UNCITRAL RCAP-UM Joint Conference 2023 aims at bringing together a group of distinguished experts and scholars to take stock of major milestones in legal harmonization of international trade law over the past decade and its national and regional manifestations. The conference also welcomes any appraisal of the contemporary legal developments arising from the current agenda of UNCITRAL and its potential impact on trade in the Asia Pacific region in general and the Greater Bay Area in particular. The synthesis of a systematic review of the past and present developments in trade law harmonization at various strata is expected to reveal the desired level of regional and national espousal needed in the future. The theme of the 1oth Anniversary Conference is aptly titled to reflect this focus as “National and Regional Harmonisation of International Trade Law: A Decade in Retrospect and the Desiderata of the Future”. The conference is dedicated to the national and regional initiatives in trade law harmonization as well as the efforts of UNCITRAL in development and promotion of its legal instruments.

The diverse thematic tracks of the Conference are expected to converge in scrutinizing the scope and significance of legal harmonization spanning across the decade and in the future. The topics of legal harmonization proposed for the conference deliberations include (but limited to) the following:

1. Secured transactions, warehouse receipts, challenges facing MSMEs and their access to credit
2. Harmonization of law governing international trade and E-commerce including the use of artificial intelligence and automation in contracts.
3. Cross-border insolvency and legal issues arising in insolvency proceedings.
4. Dispute resolution, digital economy and reforms in investor-state dispute settlement.
5. Recent milestones in the harmonization work of UNCITRAL and the present and prospective adoption of its legal instruments.

The conference consist of invited and selected speakers. Speakers interested in presenting at the conference may send their expression of interest, a brief proposal of the intended presentation and a short CV to the organizing committee at law.umuncitral@um.edu.mo for review. Depending on the suitability of the topic and availability of space, select speakers may be invited to present at the conference either in person or by Zoom.