The US-China Business Mediation Centre, the first joint conciliation institute between two countries, held a programme during the weekend to train its first batch of mediators to better solve the rising number of commercial disputes between Chinese and US companies.

A total of 26 selected mediators - 13 Chinese and 13 from the United States - attended the two-day programme, which included lectures, discussion and mock practices.

The move aims at helping mediators familiarize themselves with different legal and cultural backgrounds and work out a co-operative mechanism between two countries' mediators, according to Huang He, the centre's Chinese secretary-general, who is also one of the mediators taking the training.

When a case is accepted, Huang explained, the centre will ask Chinese and US mediators to jointly deal with the case, which to a great extent phases out biased judgments from a one-side ruling.

The programme is attempting to seek the better co-operation between two countries' mediators who are selected as leading legal professionals, to ensure that the centre keeps rolling smoothly.

The centre plans to select a second batch of mediators to cover more commercial areas and a similar training course will be held by the end of the year, Huang said.

About 30 new mediators will join the centre at that time, he said.

The centre, a marriage between the China Council for Promotion of International Trade (CCPIT) and the US Centre for Public Resources (CPR) Institute for Dispute Resolution, was set up in January and has offices in both Beijing and New York.

CCPIT, or the China Chamber of International Commerce, is the largest trade association in the country.

The CPR Institute is a non-profit alliance that involves law firms, public institutions and corporations, such as General Motors Corp, US pharmaceutical giant Pfizer Inc and Intel Corp.

The centre offers Chinese and US companies a relatively speedy and more inexpensive alternative to both domestic court systems and binding arbitration to resolve business disputes, Huang told China Daily.

"Usually, mediation is the first option for companies to solve business disputes," said Huang, who is also director of CCPIT's Legal Affairs Department.

"Generally speaking, mediation is a less expensive and time-saving process, which can sometimes settle disputes in a few days. This compares to an often year-long trial and arbitration process."

Commenting on the centre's current operation, CCPIT chairman Wan Jifei said it has had much influence among companies.

It accepted its first mediation application from a Chinese company on March 3, a few days after it officially started operations.The case was settled in a week.

"Many companies have come to us for consultation," Huang said, adding more companies will resort to the centre to solve disputes after trained mediators are in position.

The number of business disputes between Chinese and US companies will surely increase in the coming years due to China's World Trade Organization entry.

Since China joined the world trade bloc in late 2001, it is increasingly becoming integrated into the global economy and foreign investment continues to rise.

The bigger exposure to the world market has led to an increase of commercial disputes in both number and scale, Huang said.