The Board of Directors of the Boao Forum for Asia (BFA) held a meeting in Boao, Hainan Thursday, which was presided over by Chairman of the Board Fidel Ramos.

Long Yongtu, secretary-general of the BFA, reported the work of the secretariat and the preparations for the upcoming 2004 BFA annual conference, slated for Saturday and Sunday, to the Board of Directors.

Long said that though the last BFA annual conference was held just a half year ago, this year's annual conference still attracted many high-level participants.

Moreover, this year's conference has attached great importance to the selection of topics, which will focus on global and regional issues of common concern, said Long.

Long also briefed the board of directors on the BFA's work plan for 2004. Besides the annual conference, a high-level forum on Asian development and cooperation, an international forum on energy resources, a forum on education in Asia and a world tourism conference are also to be organized in the latter half of the year.

The secretary-general said the BFA should not only be far-sighted in discussing long-term cooperation in Asia, but also adopt a down-to-earth work style to enhance its prestige in both the Asian region and the rest of the world.

Former Philippine President Ramos and the board of directors all highly valued the work of the secretariat, and expressed their appreciation for the support the Chinese government has provided for the BFA.

They expressed the hope that the BFA will play a more important role in regional economic cooperation and in strengthening the communications between governments, enterprises and the academic circle.

On Thursday evening, Ramos presided over a general meeting of BFA members.

The Board of Directors, whose members include former Australian Prime Minister Robert James Lee Hawke and former Kazak Prime Minister Sergei Alexandrovich Tereshchenko, is the decision-making body of the BFA. It meets once a year.

Forum for Asia cooperation attracts journalists worldwide

More than 400 journalists from some 110 news organizations worldwide flocked to a southern China town to cover the annual conference of the Boao Forum for Asia (BFA), slated to open Saturday.

The coming of so many journalists from around the world indicated the growing influence of the forum of senior politicians, scholars and business people, an official with the secretariat said Thursday.

Among the journalists, over 300 are from 77 Chinese media organizations in the Chinese mainland, including major newspapers, news agencies, television and radio stations and about 100 are from overseas, according to Lu Guangjin, a senior coordinator of the BFA secretariat.

In the previous BFA annual meetings, news reporters were mainly from China, Japan and the Republic of Korea.

"This year, quite a few are from Southeast Asian countries and major world-class news organizations such as the Associated Press," Lu said.

Chinese major media including China Central Television, China National Radio, China Radio International and key websites such as Xinhuanet (www.xinhuanet.com) and the China Economic Net (www.ce.cn) will broadcast the event live.

This is the third annual conference of the BFA, located in Boao Town in the east of China's southernmost island province of Hainan, since its founding in 2001.

Source: Xinhua