World leaders including Prime Minister Shahid Khaqan Abbasi will attend Boao Forum for Asia (BFA) that is to be inaugurated by President Xi Jinping on Sunday at a Chinese coastal city in Hainan Province. This was announced by Chinese State Councilor and Foreign Minister Wang Yi here on Tuesday.
The leaders include Austrian President Alexander Van der Bellen, Philippine President Rodrigo Duterte, Mongolian Prime Minister Ukhnaagiin Khurelsukh, Prime Minister Mark Rutte of the Netherlands, , Singaporean Prime Minister Lee Hsien Loong, UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres, and International Monetary Fund Managing Director Christine Lagarde. President Xi will avail the opportunity introducing new measures to further open up the Chinese economy.
This year's annual meeting is to be held on April 8-11 under the theme "An Open and Innovative Asia for a World of Greater Prosperity". It will highlight reform, opening up and innovation. Speaking at a media briefing, Wang said the BFA had become "an important bridge connecting China with the rest of the world" that is "distinctively Asian, while also visible globally."
Wang added that the forum would showcase China's progress in reform and opening up, and the over 2,000 attendees will "hear a series of new opening-up measures that China will take" and a vision for the future.
President Xi will attend the forum for the third time and deliver the keynote speech at the opening ceremony, as well as meet board members, business leaders and world leaders. Xi will make China's voice heard and make Chinese positions known, the foreign minister added.