Foreign Ministry Spokesperson Mao Ning’s Regular Press Conference on May 20, 2025

Phoenix TV: You have announced that Foreign Minister Wang Yi will attend the signing ceremony of the Convention on the Establishment of the International Organization for Mediation. Could you elaborate on relevant arrangements and China’s consideration behind promoting the establishment of the International Organization for Mediation?

Mao Ning: In 2022, China and nearly 20 countries with similar positions jointly launched the initiative to establish the International Organization for Mediation (IOMed). Through concerted efforts, the negotiations on the Convention on the Establishment of the International Organization for Mediation have been concluded, and all sides agreed to situate its headquarters in Hong Kong, China. Almost 60 countries from Asia, Africa, Latin America and Europe, and around 20 international organizations including the UN will send high-level representatives to the signing ceremony on May 30. The Global Forum on International Mediation will be held in the afternoon that day to carry out discussions on “mediation of disputes between States” and “mediation of disputes between a State and foreign investors and commercial disputes”, among other issues.

Mediation is one of the important measures to settle disputes stipulated in the UN Charter. As a relatively more amicable way to settle disputes, mediation fully respects the will of parties concerned and has the unique advantages of greater flexibility, convenience, lower costs and more effective implementation. It is reflective of the tradition of amity and harmony which is valued in the East. Aimed at settling differences and resolving disputes through mediation, the International Organization for Mediation will be the world’s first intergovernmental legal organization dedicated to resolving international disputes through mediation, and will serve as an important mechanism in safeguarding the purposes and principles of the UN Charter.

The establishment of the International Organization for Mediation is a response to the shared need of countries in the world for peace, stability and development, and echoes the call of today’s world for cooperation and mutual benefit. It pools the advantages of all major law systems, and will help bring about more fair and equitable global governance on the rule of law. We welcome support and participation from more countries in creating the International Organization for Mediation, to better enable it to coordinate with existing international disputes settlement mechanisms to make each other more effective, and provide more options and pathways to resolve international disputes through efficient and peaceful means, and better safeguard international fairness and justice.