英闻天下——456 Boao Forum to Focus on Common Development in Asia（在线收听）

 The 2013 Boao Forum for Asia is scheduled for early April in south China's Boao city.

With the theme of "Asia Seeking Development for All: Restructuring, Responsibility & Cooperation," the main focus of this year's meeting will be seeking common development around Asia. Wei Tong has more.

Secretary-general of the forum Zhou Wenzhong notes participating nations will discuss the ways of achieving common economic progress as an approach to combat the financial crisis.

"In Asia, the spirit of solidarity to jointly overcome the financial difficulties has been disrupted by trade protectionism. So this is a critical moment for Asian nations to refocus their attention on common development because many countries in the region only care about their own progress."

More than 80 percent of the participating partners are enterprises, including 32 CEOs from the world's top 500 firms.

Chinese President Xi Jinping is also expected to attend the opening ceremony and will for the first time hold a dialogue with more than 30 entrepreneurs from China and abroad.

Over ten state and government leaders from Asia and other regions will attend the three-day meeting.

In addition to economic issues, food safety will be a priority. Zhou Wenzhong explains.

"Food security is widely concerned around the world, especially in Asia, because Asia is the most populated continent. Since the forum focuses on economic issues, we also need to have an in-depth research on economic problems, including food safety."

A report recently issued by the Boao Forum for Asia Research Center shows trade dependence between Asian nations has reached a relatively high level and there are huge potentials for the trade links to get closer.

Lin Guijun, one of the compliers of the report notes Asian economies must further regional cooperation.

"Some questions need to be discussed on the forum. First, we'll see how to boost economic growth in Asian nations by stimulating domestic demand. Second, we need to know how a free trade agreement can become an important tool to intensify the production network across Asia. Last but not least, the economic cooperation within the Greater Mekong Sub-region sets a good example for cooperation among developing economies."

The Boao Forum for Asia, established in 2001 invites leaders from government, business and academia in Asia and other continents, to share their visions on the most pressing issues in Asia and globally.

For CRI, I am Wei Tong.