Mediation refers to a dispute resolution method or procedure, in which a third party agreed by the parties in dispute, act objectively to facilitate parties to understand each others’ positions, achieve conciliation and finally resolves the dispute. Since mediation boasts the features of neutrality, objectivity, impartiality, fairness, agreement and harmony and also the advantages such as convenience, flexibility, cost-effectiveness, it has developed rapidly in the world and has become as important as litigation and arbitration in the regime of dispute resolution.

UNICITRAL passed the Model Law on International Commercial Conciliation in 2002. Subsequently, more and more national legislatures have enacted laws to encourage parties to solve economic disputes through mediation. Some of the national laws further regulated that conciliation agreement can be recognized and enforced by court. Major arbitration institutions in the world regulate that the arbitral tribunal may make a consent award based on a conciliation agreement. Many countries encourage pretrial mediation or allow the combination of litigation and mediation. Resolving disputes through mediation has broad prospects. In China, there are ad hoc mediation, institution mediation, mediation in arbitration, in-litigation settlement and joint mediation for economic disputes.denotes a procedure or method for the parties to a dispute to agree to facilitate the neutral third party to facilitate the parties to achieve mutual understanding through mutual understanding and mutual settlement. Because mediation has the characteristics of neutrality, objectivity, fairness, reasonableness, consensus, harmony, etc., and has the advantages of simple procedures, flexible forms, and low costs. In recent years, mediation has developed rapidly in the world and has become as important as litigation and arbitration Dispute Resolution.

After the United Nations Commission on International Trade Law adopted the Model Law on International Commercial Mediation in 2002, more and more countries have adopted legislation to encourage parties to resolve disputes through mediation. The arbitration rules of the world's major arbitration institutions have provided for mediation. In August 2019, the United Nations Convention on International Settlement Agreements Resulting from Mediation (“the Singapore Convention on Mediation”) was opened for signature in Singapore. 46 countries and jurisdictions including China, the United States, South Korea, India, Singapore, Kazakhstan, Iran, Malaysia, Israel, etc. signed the Convention, and it is expected that more countries will sign the Convention. The Singapore Convention on Mediation aims to address the cross-border enforcement of settlement agreements resulting from mediation, and it will have an important impact on promoting the widespread application of mediation in the world.

The World Mediation Centre was registered and incorporated in Hong Kong in 2019. Its main function is to handle mediation cases and manage mediation procedures in accordance with the parties' mediation agreements. To this end, the World Mediation Centre has formulated the Mediation Rules of the World Mediation Centre, which became effective on January 1, 2020.

Mediation administered by the World Mediation Centre is a typical neutral- third-party mediation. If the mediation case is international in nature, the settlement agreement reached as a result of the mediation falls into the category of a settlement agreement regulated by the Singapore Convention on Mediation and its enforcement can be sought in competent courts of the Contracting States to the Singapore Convention on Mediation. The parties to a settlement agreement can also agree that an arbitrator be appointed by the World Arbitration Centre to make an arbitral award in accordance with the content of the settlement agreement. Under the 1958 New York Convention, a consent award can be recognized and enforced in more than 160 Contracting States to the 1958 New York Convention.