Boao Forum Ends First Annual Meeting

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Last updated at: (Beijing Time) Monday, April 15, 2002

Boao Forum Ends First Annual Meeting

The first annual conference of the Boao Forum for Asia (BFA) closed Saturday at Boao, a small town in south China's island province Hainan.

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The first annual conference of the Boao Forum for Asia (BFA) closed Saturday (April 13) at Boao, a mall town in south China's island province Hainan.

The conference has proved a success and a good start of the annual series of meetings, former Philippine President Fidel Ramos, chairman of BFA's Board of Directors, told reporters at the closing ceremony.

The BFA will be an important supplement to the Asian cooperation mechanism, he added.

Chinese Premier Zhu Rongji made the opening remarks and gave a keynote speech at the opening ceremony of the meeting.

In his remarks, Zhu said that, with the theme of "New Century, New Challenge, A New Asia", the gathering gave explicit expression to the objectives of the forum: To be an Asia-based, globally-focused venue for discussions on development, and to fully reflect the common aspiration of the Asian countries to strengthen dialogue, enhance mutually beneficial cooperation and promote prosperity.

During the conference, Zhu met with Thai Prime Minister Thaksin Shinawatra, Prime Minister of the Republic of Korea Lee Han-dong, Japanese Prime Minister Junichiro Koizumi and Vietnamese Deputy Prime Minister Nguyen Manh Cam. They exchanged views on how to improve regional economic cooperation and bilateral ties.

Heads of state and government attending the meeting noted in their speeches that Asian countries should improve regional cooperation and exchanges and open wider to the outside world in a bid to sharpen their competitiveness and make Asia an economic enter of the world in the new century.

About 2,000 high-profile government officials, experts and businessmen from 48 countries and regions attended the meeting, three times more than that in last year.

During the conference, the 11-member Board of Directors and its chairman and secretary-general were elected.

According to Ramos, the Board of Directors will hold quarterly meetings, and the first meeting will be held in Beijing three months later, while Tokyo and Seoul are to host the second and third meetings, respectively.

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