The Boao Forum for Asia (BFA) annual meeting 2006
opened Saturday morning. Chinese Vice President Zeng Qinghong attended the opening ceremony and
delivered a keynote speech.
Fidel Ramos, chairman of the BFA Board of Directors and former
Philippine president, made a welcome speech at the opening
ceremony, which is held at the International Conference Center in
Boao, a coastal scenic town in China's southernmost island province
of Hainan.
More than 850 senior politicians, scholars and business people
from about 40 countries and regions are here for the annual
conference with the theme Asia Searching for Win-win: New
Opportunities of Asia: Driving Growth to the Next Level.
The participants will discuss such major topics as regional
economic cooperation, the prospects of the Doha round of World
Trade Organization talks, energy market, as well as China's
banking, real estate and automotive industries and reform of
state-owned enterprises.
Since the regional forum was established in 2001, the BFA has
attracted a great number of high-level officials, businessmen and
scholars from around the world to discuss regional and global
economic and political issues.
(Xinhua News Agency April 22, 2006)
