Secretary for Justice Paul Lam said on Saturday he hopes more Hong Kong talent can play arbitration roles once the International Organization of Mediation (IOMed) becomes fully operational as the city will do well in handling civil and commercial disputes.

Speaking on a radio programme, he said mediator quotas have been set for each participating nation and that the government will push for Hong Kong talent to be appointed as part of the allocation for China.

There will be two lists for mediators, Lam added, one for handling disputes between countries and the other for dealing with civil and commercial disputes.

"It would be difficult for us to handle disputes between countries, but Hong Kong is good at the latter," he said.

"We have talent in the field, so we [the government] will seek support from our nation to pick people from Hong Kong to be appointed into the list," he said.

"Our nation has a lot of outstanding talent in mediation, not just Hongkongers, but at least we have to fight for our opportunities."

Lam said 33 nations have signed up to join IOMed and that each member can nominate and pick mediators depending on the nature of the case.

Hong Kong's winning the right to host IOMed's headquarters shows respect for the city's capability to be a centre for international services, he added, and that member nations recognise the strengths of the SAR.

Lam also said renovation work at the old Wan Chai police station, which is to be the site of the headquarters for IOMed, is in the finishing stages and that its preparatory office will take over the venue soon.

Meanwhile, he added, lot of explanation work has to be done to make clear Hong Kong's situation to the world, despite the city being highly competitive globally.

When asked about his recent trip to the Netherlands, France and Italy to attract more European law institutions to set up offices in the SAR, Lam said progress had been made but that more effort was needed.

He added that a lot of these organisations had been focused on development in western European countries in the past but were currently seeking recognition from the Asia-Pacific in order to follow the global trend.