SINGAPORE, Oct. 21, 2024 /PRNewswire/ -- At the eighth Singapore-China Legal and Judicial Roundtable, co-chaired by The Honourable the Chief Justice Sundaresh Menon of Singapore and President and Chief Justice of the Supreme People's Court (SPC) of the People's Republic of China, His Excellency Zhang Jun, the two judiciaries discussed proactive case management, conflicts of jurisdiction and coordination of parallel proceedings, Artificial Intelligence and justice systems, and Judges' training.
Chief Justice Zhang Jun and Chief Justice Sundaresh Menon
The Roundtable was convened in Singapore from 14 to 17 October 2024. The delegation led by His Excellency Zhang included judges and officials such as Justice Yang Wanming, Vice-President of the SPC, Justice Zhang Yingjie, President of the High People's Court of Yunnan Province and Ms Zhao Juhua, President of the Intermediate People's Court of Shenzhen. This is His Excellency Zhang's first visit to Singapore in his capacity as President and Chief Justice of the SPC and the first time the delegation is back in Singapore since the Covid-19 pandemic.
The Roundtable is the centrepiece of the strong relationship between the Singapore and China judiciaries, and the Supreme Court of Singapore and the SPC have taken turns to host the Roundtable. Since its inception in 2017, the Roundtable has been an effective platform for judicial cooperation and for both judiciaries to learn from each other's perspectives and experiences in areas of mutual interest.
Chief Justice Menon said in his opening remarks of the Roundtable, "Our judiciaries have enjoyed an extremely warm relationship for many years now. This has mirrored the strong bilateral relations between Singapore and China, which were upgraded last year to an "All Round High Quality Future Oriented Partnership". Legal and judicial cooperation has been an important pillar of our close ties, and this cooperation has continued to flourish since we met in Beijing for the seventh edition of the Roundtable."
Sharing his insights on the discussion topic "Proactive Case Management", Chief Justice Menon suggested that case management is a key part of the procedural architecture that our courts operate and the overall administration of a judicial system. As the caseload of our courts increase in volume and complexity, we will need to embrace a more proactive role in case management. Chief Justice Menon elaborated on how the Singapore Courts have sought to implement an approach of proactive case management at three main levels: through the frameworks we operate and apply; through the processes we implement; and through the thought and care that our people bring to the task of case management in each case.
The two Chief Justices also held a bilateral meeting where they took stock of the progress that each court has made in the past year and discussed future plans, including opportunities for the two judiciaries to work together to address similar challenges they encounter.
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