PM Abbasi to attend BFA in China: Wang Yi

BEIJING, Apr 3 (APP):Prime Minister Shahid Khaqan Abbasi will visit China to attend Boao Forum for Asia (BFA) annual meeting to be held on April 8-11 in south China’s Hainan Province under the theme “An Open and Innovative Asia for a World of Greater Prosperity”.
“Prime Minister Abbasi has been invited to attend this year’s meeting,” Chinese Foreign Minister Wang Yi said during a press briefing held at the Ministry of Foreign Affairs here on Tuesday morning.
Other attendees include Austrian President Alexander Van der Bellen, Philippine President Rodrigo Duterte, Mongolian Prime Minister Ukhnaagiin Khurelsukh, Prime Minister Mark Rutte of the Netherlands, Singaporean Prime Minister Lee Hsien Loong, UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres, and International Monetary Fund Managing Director Christine Lagarde.
Wang said President Xi Jinping, Premier Li Keqiang, and other top leaders will be meeting with above mentioned leaders.
“They will discuss bilateral, multilateral practical cooperation, global governance, economy, and trade. And they will build a new consensus and produce a new outcome. This year see the new board of directors of the forum,” he added.
He said Chinese President Xi Jinping will deliver a keynote speech at the forum, and new measures to further open up the Chinese economy will be announced.
Wang said the BFA had become “an important bridge connecting China with the rest of the world” that is “distinctively Asian, while also visible globally.”
Wang added that the forum would showcase China’s progress in reform and opening up, and the over 2,000 attendees will “hear a series of new opening-up measures that China will take” and a vision for the future.
President Xi will attend the forum for the third time and deliver the keynote speech at the opening ceremony, as well as meet board members, business leaders, and world leaders. Xi will make China’s voice heard and make Chinese positions known, the foreign minister added.
Wang said the world was changing and the forum would seek answers to new developments.
He said since Boao Forum for Asia started in Hainan province, Boao once an unknown fishing village has become a well known modern town.
This year is the 30th anniversary of the special zone of Hainan province. As the largest economic special zone and a gateway of China’s reforms opening up, Hainan is opening its arms to embrace friends from all corners of the world, he added.
The BFA is a non-governmental and non-profit international organization that hosts high-level forums committed to promoting regional economic integration and bringing Asian countries closer to their development goals.