HONG KONG -- The General Assembly of the International Institute for the Unification of Private Law (UNIDROIT) has decided on the establishment of the UNIDROIT Asia-Pacific Liaison Office in China's Hong Kong Special Administrative Region (HKSAR), the Department of Justice (DoJ) of the HKSAR government said Wednesday.

The office is expected to open at the Hong Kong Legal Hub in the second half of 2026, marking the first regional presence of UNIDROIT outside its seat in Rome in its 100-year history.

A spokesperson for the HKSAR government said that hosting UNIDROIT's first overseas office in Hong Kong is a significant milestone for the city's development as a legal hub, as it reflects the international community's continued confidence in the HKSAR's legal system and reinforces its position as a leading international legal hub.

The spokesperson said that the office at the Hong Kong Legal Hub will establish UNIDROIT's permanent presence in the Asia-Pacific region, adding that it could also contribute to facilitating co-ordination and creating synergies among the "three sisters of private international law," namely UNIDROIT, the Hague Conference on Private International Law, and the United Nations Commission on International Trade Law.

The DoJ submitted the proposal for the establishment of the office to the secretariat of UNIDROIT, with support of the Central People's Government. In May, the UNIDROIT Governing Council expressed support for the proposal and recommended it to the General Assembly, which accepted the recommendation at its 85th session on Dec 11.

UNIDROIT is an independent intergovernmental organization with 65 member states. The institute's aim is to study the needs and methods to modernize, harmonize and coordinate private and, in particular, commercial law among states and groups of states and to formulate uniform law instruments, principles and rules to achieve those objectives.