Zhou Qiang met with Habib El Malki, President of Morocco House of Representatives  Photographed by Zhang Yanbing

Zhou Qiang met with Hakim Ben Shamash, President of Moroccan Senate  Photographed by Zhang Yanbing

Zhou Qiang met with Hakim Ben Shamash, President of Moroccan Senate  Photographed by Zhang Yanbing

At the invitation of the Supreme Court of the Kingdom of Morocco, Zhou Qiang, Chief Justice and President of the Supreme People’s Court of the People's Republic of China, leading a delegation of the court of China , visited Morocco from September 20 to 23. During the visit, Zhou Qiang met with the President of Morocco House of Representatives, President of Senate, President of the Supreme Court, President of the Constitutional Court and Secretarial of Justice, etc. respectively.

At the meeting with Habib El Malki, President of Morocco House of Representatives, and Hakim Ben Shamash, President of Moroccan Senate, Zhou Qiang said that, within the 60 years since the establishment of diplomatic relations between China and Morocco, the bilateral relation has been developing healthily and steadily, and friendly exchanges and mutually beneficial cooperation in economic, trade, culture and judicial fields are being strengthened. Not long ago, President Xi Jinping, at the Beijing Summit of the Forum on China-Africa Cooperation, proposed to jointly build a more integrated community of common future for China and Africa and defined the “Eight Major Actions” to be carried out in the next stage, indicating the direction for deepening China-Morocco judicial exchanges and cooperation. The Supreme People's Court of China is willing to work together with the judiciary of Morocco to implement the achievements of the Forum on China-Africa Cooperation, further deepen judicial cooperation, and jointly promote development of "the Belt and Road", and promote the in-depth development of the strategic partnership between the two countries. Presidents of House of Representatives and the Senate of the Morocco said that Morocco highly appreciates China's important contribution to the development of the world economy and the construction of a multi-polar world, fully endorses President Xi Jinping's initiative to hold hands together to build a more integrated community of common future for China and Africa and his "Eight Major Actions", and actively participates in the joint construction of “the Belt and Road”. It will further promote the implementation of the consensus reached by both heads of states, support the courts of the two countries to deepen practical cooperation and promote the development of bilateral relations.

At the meeting with Mostafa Farras, Chairman of Supreme Judicial Council of Morocco and President of the Supreme Court, Zhou Qiang said that, pursuant to the Strategy of Advance Law-based Governance porposed by President Xi Jinping, China is implementing legislation in a scientific manner, strict enforcement of laws, impartial administration of justice, observation of the law by all. As the ruling party, the Communist Party of China has set up the Central Committee for Advanced Law-Based Governance, to comprehensively promot a holistic approach to strengthening the rule of law in the country, in its government, and in society. The construction of rule of law in China has entered a new era. There are great differences in historical tradition and legal systems between China and Morocco. However, with the continuous and in-depth development of “the Belt and Road”, the bilateral economic and trade, cultural and people-to-people exchanges are getting closer, and the demand for judicial cooperation is also expanding. In July this year, the Supreme Courts of China and Morocco signed a memorandum of understanding on judicial exchanges and cooperation, which clarified the direction of the next stage of cooperation. It is expected that the two sides will make joint efforts to implement the important consensus reached by the heads of the state of the two countries, promote the conversion of the memorandum of understanding on judicial cooperation into concrete actions, especially in strengthening exchanges and cooperation in commercial justice system, case studies and training of judges, and create a good legal environment, so as to provide effective judicial service and guarantee for economic and trade contact, cultural and people-to-people exchanges of two countries, and to better benefit the people of two countries.

President Mostafa Farras said that bilateral judicial cooperation between Morocco and China is of great significance in maintaining the stable economic and trade relations, building a legal business environment and promoting the development of bilateral relations. The Supreme Court of Morocco is willing to deepen practical cooperation with the Supreme People's Court of China, to carry out extensive exchanges and cooperation under the framework of the memorandum of understanding signed by the Supreme Courts of two countries with the aim of building a community of shared future for China and Africa in the direction determined by the two heads of states, and to form more constructive results of judicial cooperation, promoting the further development of bilateral relations.

At the meeting with Saeed Yi Hayi, President of Constitutional Court of the Morocco, Zhou Qiang said that the first meeting of the Thirteenth National People's Congress of China held in March this year deliberated and approved constitutional amendment, which made it clear that leadership by the Communist Party of China is the most essential feature of socialism with Chinese characteristics, and incorporated Xi Jinping Thought on Socialism with Chinese Characteristics for a New Era into the Constitution as the national guiding ideology. It reflects the common will of all Chinese people, which provides a strong constitutional guarantee for the adherence and development of socialism with Chinese characteristics in the New Era. According to China's Constitution and relevant laws, the Constitution and Law Committee of the National People's Congress of China assumes the responsibilities of constitutional interpretation and supervision. Saeed Yi Hayi introduced functions of the Constitutional Court of the Morocco and case hearing situations, and expressed his willingness to strengthen communication with China, deepen mutual understanding and make positive contributions to the development of bilateral relations.

At the meeting with Mohamed Aujjar, Secretarial of Justice of Morocco, Zhou Qiang said that, China's courts are pushing forward the reform of judicial system, strengthening the construction of smart courts in an all-round way and speeding up the construction of a fair, efficient and authoritative socialist judicial system in accordance with the goal of "making people feel fair and just in every judicial case" put forward by President Xi Jinping. Mohamed Aujjar introduced the functions and works of the Moroccan Ministry of Justice and expressed his willingness to learn from each other in judicial reform, court administration and other aspects with the Supreme People's Court of China.

At the meeting with Abdrazak Amrani, President of Casablanca Commercial Court of Appeals, Zhou Qiang introduced the operation of commercial judicial institutions in China, especially the First and the Second International Commercial Courts of the Supreme People’s Court of China ，International Commercial Expert Committee, Shanghai Financial Court ， Hangzhou and Beijing Internet Courts. He expressed the hope that China and Morocco strengthen exchanges and mutual learning in the field of commercial justice system and provide more convenient dispute resolutions for parties involved in cross-border trade to better meet the diversified judicial needs of the parties, promote trade and investment facilitation, and create a stable, fair and transparent legal business environment. Abdrazak Amrani introduced the functions of the Casablanca Commercial Court of Appeals and its practice in protecting and promoting enterprise investment and operation by trying cases involving contract, bankruptcy and other disputes.

At the meeting with Abdul Magid Jimijia, President of Morocco's Judicial College, Zhou Qiang expressed China's willingness to strengthen the exchanges and cooperation between the institutions for training of judges in the two countries, to share the experience of the judge training, to establish a platform for exchange of precedent cases, and to jointly strengthen the study of judicial cases of various countries, especially those in Africa, the League of Arab States and the Europe, so as to promote the judicial capacity of both countries.

Zhang Xuequn, President of Liaoning High People’s Court, Li Zhanguo, President of Zhejiang High People’s Court and Zhang Jiatian, President of Shandong High People’s Court participated in the visit. Li Li, Chinese Ambassador in Morocco, accompanied them to participate in related activities. (Yu Maoyu)

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*The original text is Chinese and has been translated into English for reference only. If there is any inconsistency or ambiguity between the Chinese version and the English version, the Chinese version shall prevail.