Southwest China's Chongqing Municipality opened a new international arbitration center to help solve disputes involving foreign businesses.

The center will deal with international cases and those involving business from Hong Kong, Taiwan and Macao.

It has 44 scholars and lawyers that specialize in international trade law, international investment law and intellectual property law to offer consultation and arbitration.

The center was set up to better protect the rights of the city's businesses as Chongqing, a major industrial base in west China, attracts more foreign investment as a result of the Belt and Road Initiative and the construction of the Yangtze Economic Belt, said Zhang Jiandong, Vice General Secretary  of the China Chongqing Arbitration Commission, which administers the center.

(Xinhua News Agency April 28, 2016)