The World Economic Forum officially inaugurated its Beijing representative office Tuesday, which will become the global headquarters for the Forum's Center for Global Growth Companies.

Addressing the inauguration ceremony, the forum's executive chairman Klaus Schwab said the establishment of the forum's first Asian representative office is a historical event that is important not only for the forum but also for China.

Since the hosting of the forum's first China Business Summit in Beijing in 1981, the forum has been promoting worldwide understanding of China's policies and trying to establish business links between foreign and Chinese industrial leaders, he said.

He noted that the world is rapidly changing with a shift of the economic and political gravity center from West to East and particularly the rise of China as a peaceful and responsible partner.

"We believe that China is well positioned to serve as the global hub for such new global players (growth companies) from all over the world," he said.

Established in 1971, the World Economic Forum has become one of the most influential gathering of political and business leaders as well as scholars and experts on economic issues.

China began to attend the forum's annual meetings in 1979. Since 1981, the forum also hosts an annual China Business Summit in China.

Zhang Xiaoqiang, deputy head of the National Development and Reform Commission, said China and the forum have kept a good cooperative relation over the years, and that the establishment of the Beijing representative office will further strengthen such a fruitful relationship.

(Xinhua News Agency June 14, 2006)