(Originally published on 06/25/2012)

After five year of close cooperation, the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP), European Union and the government of China held a closing ceremony to mark the end of the Governance for Equitable (GED) programme. Since its inception in 2007, this groundbreaking project has been supporting China in its efforts to strengthen the rule of law and ensure that more people are able to engage in the country’s law making processes. The event was held to celebrate progress made in areas of the law harmonization, justice fairness and CSO development, including initiatives such as the pilot on public participation in law making, the establishment of the legislation filing and review mechanism, the People’s Assessors pilot in Wuzhong and the legislative improvement for CSO development.   

“Strengthening governance and the rule of law, and promoting civil society participation in legal spheres have been an essential and very rewarding part of our cooperation with China over the last five years,” said Mr. Christophe Bahuet, UNDP Country Director.

Participants at the ceremony included representatives from the European Union and UNDP, as well as government officials from the National People’s Congress, the Supreme People’s Court, the Ministry of Civil Affairs, Ministry of Commerce and CICETE.