On April 20, 2021, Vice President Wang Qishan attended the opening ceremony of the Boao Forum for Asia (BFA) Annual Conference 2021 in Boao of Hainan Province. He also met with members of the Board of Directors and strategic partners of the BFA and talked with representatives of Chinese and foreign entrepreneurs.
At the opening ceremony, Wang Qishan expressed congratulations on the 20th anniversary of the forum. He said, in the keynote speech, President Xi Jinping expounded Chinese positions and shared Chinese proposals on improving prosperity in Asia and beyond, and expressed the consistent support of the Chinese government for the BFA.
When meeting with members of the Board of Directors and strategic partners, Wang Qishan pointed out, over 20 years, the BFA has grown into a high-level platform for people from political, commercial and academic sectors to strengthen dialogues and seek cooperation, playing a vital role for Asian development and the exchanges between Asia and the world. The world is currently undergoing new, complex and profound changes, and all parties need to strengthen exchanges, build consensus and join hands to meet common challenges, which brings a broad space for development of the forum.
Wang Qishan said, the theme of the conference "A World in Change: Join Hands to Strengthen Global Governance and Advance Belt and Road Cooperation" reveals the pressing issues of the world order and reflects the shared will of the international community. All countries in the world share a common stake, and peace and development is the trend of the times. President Xi Jinping stated again Chinese proposals in his keynote speech, i.e. choose solidarity over division, cooperation over confrontation, and openness over isolation, uphold multilateralism, advocate common values of humanity, and promote common development and the building of a community with a shared future for mankind through jointly building the Belt and Road Initiative.
Wang Qishan suggested, the forum should form more Boao views with Asian wisdom to improve suggestions for the long-term development and prosperity of Asia. We should grasp the pulse of the times and pay attention to the emerging new trends of international politics, economy, society, culture and ecological civilization to promote all parties to meet challenges and share opportunities. We should strengthen the construction of talent teams and think tanks to provide more intellectual support for governments and enterprises to carry out pragmatic cooperation
BFA Chairman Ban Ki-moon, former Deputy Prime Minister of Thailand Surakiart Sathirathai and other members of the Board of Directors and strategic partners spoke highly of President Xi's keynote speech. They praised China for being the first to get out of the pandemic and achieving economic recovery, and expressed they would continue to offer experience and wisdom for promoting all countries to stay open and inclusive, uphold multilateralism and achieve shared prosperity.
While meeting with entrepreneurs, Wang said, the people's aspiration to live a better life is the goal of the Communist Party of China. Over 20 years, foreign enterprises have grown stronger, which is a vivid reflection of the continuous improvement of socialist market economy system with Chinese characteristics. There is no end to development, reform and opening-up. At the new stage, we should implement new philosophy, and foster new paradigms. China's modernization represents a profound revolution that will surely need a long historical process. Glory and suffering accompany each other. We should stay calm and sober through historical, cultural and philosophical thinking and build confidence and patience. He hopes that all governments, social organizations and enterprises will understand the essence of President Xi's keynote speech, and march forward with firm ideals and in a down-to-earth manner.
Entrepreneurs attending the meeting said, China's proposals and its super-resilient economy are encouraging. They will seize the opportunity to deeply integrate into China's new development paradigm and jointly build the Belt and Road Initiative.
On April 19, 2021, Wang Qishan also attended the launch ceremony of the Retrospective Exhibition of the 20th Anniversary of Boao Forum for Asia, and visited the exhibition.
