From April 19 to 21, 2021, the 30th Annual Meeting of Inter-Pacific Bar Association (Annual Meeting for short) was held in Shanghai. Tang Yijun, Minister of the Ministry of Justice（MOJ）, Li Fei, Chairman of the Constitution and Law Committee of the National People's Congress, and Gong Zheng, mayor of Shanghai, attended and addressed the opening ceremony. Xiong Xuanguo, Vice Minister of MOJ, delivered a keynote speech entitled Upholding High-quality Development and High-level Opening up, Striving to Build an International First-class Arbitration Institution. Li Zhiqiang, President of Inter-Pacific Bar Association, presided over the opening ceremony.

China Maritime Arbitration Commission (CMAC) was invited to attend the meeting. The Annual Meeting is hosted by the Inter-Pacific Bar Association, hosted by the all China Lawyers Association and co-sponsored by the Shanghai Lawyers Association. The theme of the Annual Meeting is the Reform of World Economic and Trade Rules and the Opportunities and Challenges of the Legal Industry. More than 600 guests and representatives from more than 30 countries and regions participated in the virtual and on-site discussion .

Dr. Li Hu, Secretary and Deputy Director of CMAC, served as the host of the "development of digital trade" Forum . Shi Jun, senior partner of Shanghai Allbright Law Offices; Yang Qing, partner of Zhonghao Law Firm; Zhang Haixiao, partner of AnJie Law Firm; Liu Fang, deputy director of Shanghai Keen Right Law Firm; Liu Kejiang, partner of Beijing DHH Law Firm; Wang Jianming, director of Beijing DHH (Wuxi) law firm The eight keynote speakers shared their professional views and suggestions around the theme of the forum.

In his concluding speech, deputy director Li Hu pointed out that from traditional trade to e-commerce, and then to digital trade, network technology has always played a key role. Digital trade has further realized the digitization of trade methods and trade objects, leading the development of digital economy. Digital trade liberalization inevitably requires and leads to cross regional and cross-border data flow, which inevitably leads to complex legal issues such as data ownership, data privacy, intellectual property protection and transaction compliance. Domestic legal norms and international collaborative governance are particularly important. The development of Internet based on network technology makes e-commerce become an important way of post-modern international trade, and the development of e-commerce gives birth to online dispute resolution, such as online arbitration, which is compatible with its essential characteristics. Digital trade itself also calls for a digital dispute resolution mechanism matching its development. In the process of digital trade development, lawyers will have great potential in the emerging legal services.

After the speech, deputy director Li Hu issued the speech certificate for each speaker, and congratulated, on behalf of CMAC, the success of the 30th Annual Meeting of Inter-Pacific Bar Association. Xiao Peng, case manager of CMAC business development division, participated in the forum.