Secretary for Justice Rimsky Yuen will visit Beijing tomorrow to attend the signing ceremony of an agreement with the Permanent Court of Arbitration.

The agreement is the Host Country Agreement & related Memorandum of Administrative Arrangements with the Permanent Court of Arbitration in the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region of the People's Republic of China.

Under the agreement and the memorandum, dispute resolution proceedings administered by the Permanent Court of Arbitration can be conducted in Hong Kong on an ad hoc basis with the provision of facilities and support services required, without the need for the presence of a permanent physical Permanent Court of Arbitration.

Vice Minister of Foreign Affairs Liu Zhenmin and Permanent Court of Arbitration Secretary General Hugo Hans Siblesz will also attend the ceremony.

Established in 1899 and located at The Hague in the Netherlands, the Permanent Court of Arbitration is an inter-governmental organisation to facilitate arbitration and other forms of dispute resolution between states.

Mr Yuen will also meet officials of the Department of Treaty & Law to discuss issues of mutual concern.

He will return to Hong Kong on January 5.