On Friday about 1,000 business leaders, politicians and decision makers will gather for three days in Bo'ao island in Hainan province, discussing how to make Asia green and the concept of responsible investment.
President Hu Jintao and other eight other leaders from all over the world will be discussing solutions at the annual forum.
The topic is a continuation of last year's theme: "Asia Winning in Today's Global Economy - Innovation and Sustainable Development."
It's a major effort to have the environment high on the agenda at the forum. Since 1998 Asian politicians and opinion leaders have been discussing setting up a platform to make Asia's voices heard. But the mission was impossible until 2001 when the forum was established to seek cooperation among Asian countries and other continents.
The topic of its first annual forum was "New Millennium, New Challenges and New Asia," a theme asking Asian countries to seek common ground and deepen regional cooperation in different areas such as foreign trade, energy and sustainable development.
In 2003, the leaders were actively involving themselves in the process of globalization and internal integration. The themes in 2004 were linked with China and the concept of China's peaceful rise was discussed as was Asia's ongoing poverty problem.
In 2005 and 2006, the forum discussed Asia integration and the potential of the Asian markets.
Topics at the 2007 conference included Asian integration, energy cooperation, innovations in the banking and telecommunications sectors, corporate social responsibility and the media's role in building a unified Asia.
Dignitaries at last year's conference included Philippine President Gloria Macapagal Arroyo, Pakistan Prime Minister Shaukat Aziz, Microsoft Corporation Chairman Bill Gates and Nobel Peace Prize winner Muhammad Yunus.
(China Daily 04/07/2008 page4)