Beijing (EFE).- The Boao Economic Forum, organized by China and considered the Asian alternative to Davos, returns this week in face-to-face format after three years of pandemic with the forecast that Asia will lead world growth this year against the global slowdown trend.
The event starts this Tuesday in the insular Chinese province of Hainan (south) and will last until next Friday under the motto “An uncertain world: solidarity and cooperation for development in the midst of challenges.”
According to figures released by the organization, the attendance of more than 2,000 representatives from 50 countries is expected, including the heads of the governments of Spain, Pedro Sánchez; Singapore, Lee Hsien Loong; Malaysia, Datuk Seri Anwar Ibrahim; and the director of the International Monetary Fund (IMF), Kristalina Georgieva.
Sánchez will attend the Boao Forum
Sánchez will attend the Boao Forum for Asia on Thursday, March 30, as part of a two-day official visit that he will make to the Asian giant.
The opening day of Boao will also mean one of the first public interventions by the new Chinese Prime Minister, Li Qiang, after his appointment on March 11 during the annual meeting of the National People’s Congress (Chinese Legislative).
On the Forum’s agenda for this year are debates on how to preserve and promote regional economic integration, peace and cooperation in a scenario of geopolitical risks and challenges not only for Asia, but globally.
Among the specific topics that will be addressed are, among others, the new landscape of supply chains, the challenge of neutralizing the carbon footprint, the digital economy, the shock of global energy supply, biopharmaceutical innovation or the balance between inflation and the acceleration of the economic recovery.
The event has activities in different formats that include conferences, debates, round tables and sectoral meetings, according to the published agenda.
This Tuesday, coinciding with its first day, the Forum released its annual report, which estimates that real GDP growth in Asia is 4.5%, compared to 4.2% in 2022, which makes it a “highlighting actor” amid global slowdown.
The document foresees “a better situation than expected in Asia” in terms of employment, despite the fact that the International Labor Organization (ILO) estimates the increase in employment in the region at 0.8% for 2023, below the 1% expected globally.
He also predicts that inflationary pressure will ease, although “the factors responsible” for the ups and downs of the last year will coexist.
The Boao Forum for Asia, created in the year 2000 by agreement of 29 countries in the region, was held for the first time in February 2001 with the aim of promoting Asian economic integration, a goal that was later expanded to a global scale.