April 6, 2007

First of all, let me express our gratitude to you for your support to the Boao Forum for Asia over the past years. Thank you for coming!

The Boao Forum for Asia Annual Conference 2007 is to be held on April 20-22, 2007 in Boao, Hainan . All preparatory work has been going smoothly. Yesterday, the Chinese government announced that H. E. Wu Bangguo, Chairman of the Standing Committee of the National People's Congress, would attend the Conference, reaffirming the consistent support of the Chinese Government to the Boao Forum for Asia . Other Asian countries are just as supportive. This year, H. E. Gloria Arroyo, President of the Philippines , and H. E. Shaukat Aziz, Prime Minister of Pakistan, will attend the Conference. Also committed are H. E. Warren Truss, Minister for Trade of Australia, H. E. Lim Hng Kiang, Minister for Trade and Industry of Singapore, H. E. Annette King, Minister of Transport of New Zealand, H. E. Peter Favila, Secretary for Trade and Industry of the Philippines, H. E. Arthur Yap, Secretary for Agriculture of the Philippines, H. E. Michiyo Takagi, Parliamentary Secretary for Economy, Trade and Industry of Japan, and H. E. Lawrence Greenwood, Vice President of the Asian Development Bank.

Of the Chinese ministers, H. E. Bo Xilai, Minister of Commerce, H. E. Li Rongrong, Chairman of the State-owned Assets Supervision and Administration Commission, and H. E. Liu Mingkang, Chairman of China Banking Regulatory Commission, have confirmed their attendance. Minister Bo will deliver a keynote speech at the Luncheon Session to be held on April 21. Chairman Li and Chairman Liu will host breakfast meetings with business leaders respectively.

H. E. Edmund Ho Hau Wah, Chief Executive of the Macao Special Administrative Region, and H. E. Henry Tang, Financial Secretary of the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region, have also confirmed.

This year's Annual Conference has enjoyed unprecedented support from the business community at home and abroad. Microsoft, SK Group, Merrill Lynch, Dongfeng Nissan, Sinopec, Moutai and Deloitte are major sponsors of the year. In addition, Lenovo, UPS, New Fortune and Starbucks have also signed up in support of the Conference. Such forceful support from multinationals shows that Boao's influence has expanded beyond Asia .

Participation of the business community in this year's Conference is better than any previous conferences. Among confirmed corporate leaders are Bill Gates, Chairman of Microsoft, Muhammad Yunus, Nobel Prize Laureate and Founder of Grameen Bank, Chey Tae Won, Chairman of SK Group, Jim Donald, President and CEO of Starbucks Coffee Company, William Parrett, Global Chief Executive Officer of Deloitte Touche Tohmatsu, Michael Treschow, Chairman of Ericsson Group, Kevan Watts, Chairman of Merrill Lynch International Inc., and Alan Rosling, Executive Director of Tata Sons. Participation from domestic, Hong Kong and Macao enterprises remain at a high level. Leaders of large state-owned enterprises, such as Wang Jianzhou, Chairman of China Mobile, Fu Chengyu, President of CNOOC, Wei Jiafu, President & CEO of COSCO Group, Yuan Maozhen, Chairman of China Southern Grid Corporation, Shi Dahua, Chairman of China Railway Engineering Group, and Ning Gaoning, Chairman of COFCO have confirmed their attendance. Business leaders from the private sector, such as Cheung Yan, Chairman of Nine Dragons Paper (Holdings) Ltd, and Zhang Yue, CEO of Broad Air Conditioning, have confirmed as well. Well-renowned entrepreneurs from Hong Kong and Macao , such as Victor Fung, Chairman of Hong Kong Airport Authorities and Chairman of Li & Fung Group of Companies, and Lao Lai Ma, Vice President of the Macao Chamber of Commerce, will come to the conference. From Taiwan , Vincent C. Siew, Chairman of Cross-Straits Common Market Foundation, and Rick Tsai, President & CEO of TSMC, will attend the Conference. So will Mr. Gary Locke, former Governor of the Washington State , the USA .

Each year, a number of economists from major investment banks and consultancies come to Boao as well. This year, we have in addition invited some famous Chinese economists to be panelists or speakers. Fan Gang, Lin Yifu and Zhao Xiao, among others, have confirmed their attendance.

The past conferences have witnessed more domestic journalists than their overseas peers. This year, the Boao Forum for Asia has made good progress in the cooperation with foreign mainstream media agencies. The Forum has forged media partnerships with Bloomberg, Financial Times and BBC. These agencies have made great efforts to promote the Forum overseas and will send senior correspondents and editors to Boao for on-site coverage.

Among overseas agencies coming to the Conference are AP, APTN, Business Week, Washington Post, Dow Jones Newswires, Economist, Yomiuri Shimbun, Asahi Shimbun, NHK, Agencia EFE, Die Zeit, Phoenix TV, Takungpao, Wen Hui Bao, Central News Agency. CCTV, China National Radio and Radio China will make live coverage. Xinhua News Agency, China News Service, People's Daily, China Daily, etc. will send journalists to cover the conference. The Conference will be broadcast live on the official website of the Boao Forum for Asia .

The Forum has been trying its utmost to make the journalists' work easier in Boao. This year, we will organize as many interviews of panelists, speakers and VIP guests as possible. Journalists can expect much better working conditions and accommodation in Boao.

In line with the everlasting theme of the Boao Forum for Asia “Asia Searching for Win-Win”, the theme of the Annual Conference 2007 (AC2007) has been decided upon as “Asia Winning in Global Economy – Innovation and Sustainable Development”. Under the theme, topics of AC2007 include sustainable social and economic development in Asia (such as Asian economic integration, symbiotic relations among China, India and the rest of Asia, etc.), impact of growth and innovation on specific industries (energy/resources, IT, banking, creative industry, etc.) as well as corporate social responsibility and greed agenda which the business community and the general public have shown great interest in.

For the first time since its inception, the Forum will set up a media session entitled “The Power of media and a Harmonious Asia”. Among the confirmed attendees are Suthichai Saeyoon, Group Editor-in-chief of the National, Ravindra Kumar, Editor and Managing Director of the Statesman, Felix Soh, Deputy Editor of the Straits Times, Mahfuz Anam, Editor-in-chief and Publisher of the Daily Star, and Endy Bayuni, Chief Editor of he Jakarta Post.

After years of efforts and strong support from various parties, the Annual Conference of the Forum and related events and activities have become increasingly influential. We hope that friends from the press will as always support this year's Annual Conference and future events.

Thank you!