Over the past decades high-ranking officials and business people
have been used to converging at Davos, a Swiss town famous for
mountain skiing, to attend the annual meetings of the World
Economic Forum (WEF). Now they have one more chance to meet each
other.
From Sept. 6 to 8 this year, the WEF Inaugural Annual Meeting of
the New Champions will be held in China's northeast coastal city of
Dalian, where West meets East, mountain meets sea, winter meets
summer and above all, the fledging meet the grown-up.
Founded in 1971 to "discuss a coherent strategy for European
business to face challenge in the international marketplace", the
WEF has grown into a global economic think-tank made up of
business, political and academic leaders.
In comparison, the "Summer Davos" serves as a platform to link
growth companies from across the world, seeking cooperation and
development, said WEF founder and executive chairman Klaus
Schwab.
The invitation-only meeting in Dalian will get together more
than 1,700 participants from 90 countries and regions, including
TNT CEO Peter Bakker, Intel Corporation Board Chairman Craig
Barrett, and PricewaterhouseCoopers Global CEO Samuel DiPiazza,
according to the organizers.
However, unlike the "Winter Davos" which focuses on the top-500
companies, most of the Dalian participants with the business sector
come from global growth companies (GGC) with an annual turnover
between 100 million U.S. dollars and 5 billion dollars each and no
less than 15 percent year-on-year growth.
Accordingly, the Dalian meeting will concentrate more on the
growth challenges facing global companies as they expand outside
their traditional markets, said WEF managing director and chief
operating officer Andre Schneider earlier. In Dalian, the champions
are privileged to interact with the leaders from the world's
fastest growing countries, regions and cities with a strong
representation from the Chinese government.
Premier Wen Jiabao of China with an annual GDP growth around ten
percent for a decade will attend the meeting. Likely, the meeting
will see Sheikh Mohammed Bin Rashid Almaktoum, vice president and
prime minister of the United Arab Emirates, and Singapore Senior
Minister Goh Chok Tong.
Officials from the fast-growing "golden bricks" countries
include Indian parliamentary members Naveen Jindal and Jyotiraditya
Scindia, Brazilian Trade and Investment Promotion Agency Director
Mauricio Borges, and Vice Minister of Foreign Trade of Brazil Ivan
Ramalho.
Dalian used to rely on heavy industry, but now is growing fast
in hi-tech industry. The city is an ideal location for holding the
GGC meeting, said Schwab.
China's tremendous and continuous growth makes the country both
a source for and target of the world's emerging global champions
and a location to bring all these companies together, commented
Schneider earlier.
Ten plenary sessions and about 80 penal discussions will be
conducted during the meeting, focusing on GGC development and hot
issues from global warming to AIDS.
About one-fifth of the topics are about China, including an
outlook of China's capital market, intellectual property
protection, challenges caused by fast growth and the opportunities
brought by the Beijing Olympics, among others.
After holding its inaugural session in Dalian, the second summer
meeting of the WEF will be held next year in Tianjin, a harbor city
about 120 km to the east of Beijing.
(Xinhua News Agency September 5, 2007)
