Beijing-headquartered Guantao Law Firm has opened an office in Bishkek, Kyrgyzstan, its 41st globally and fourth in Central Asia, expanding its legal services network in the region.
Guantao has established offices in Almaty in Kazakhstan, Tashkent in Uzbekistan and Dushanbe in Tajikistan.
Yang Tianbin, head and equity partner of Guantao’s Urumqi office, serves as managing partner of the Bishkek branch.
He told China Business Law Journal: “Leveraging Urumqi’s position as a gateway to Central Asia, we focus on key sectors including minerals and energy, new energy and logistics hubs.
“The four offices will share information, co-ordinate personnel and pool resources to provide full-cycle services from project assessment to implementation and operations. We hope Chinese companies can receive timely, professional and attentive legal support wherever they go in Central Asia,” said Yang.
Yang has more than 20 years of experience in Central Asia-related legal services, focusing on cross-border trade compliance and remedies, energy and infrastructure and international arbitration. He also has extensive experience in foreign investment, construction, M&A and dispute resolution in Central Asia.
Guantao has also appointed Huang Le, a senior partner at its Urumqi office, to Bishkek. Huang has nearly 10 years of in-house legal experience with an overseas oil company and has expertise in construction and energy infrastructure, cross-border investment and international legal services, and civil and commercial litigation and arbitration. She is familiar with investment and project operations in Central Asia.
The Bishkek office primarily practises in cross-border infrastructure and construction projects, covering tendering, contract negotiation and execution, construction performance, compliance management and dispute prevention and resolution. It advises Chinese companies on local project development, investment and operations.
Bishkek is the capital, and political and economic centre of Kyrgyzstan. Guantao said in a press release that its four Central Asian offices would “provide Chinese companies investing and doing business in the region with comprehensive legal support for project implementation, compliance and risk management and dispute resolution”.
