By Xia Deren, mayor of Dalian (China Daily)
Updated: 2007-09-06 06:26

This golden September, the Inaugural Annual Meeting of the New Champions - "from Davos to Dalian", organized by the World Economic Forum, is having its grand opening here in Dalian.

As mayor of Dalian, I, on behalf of our six million citizens, sincerely welcome our honored guests from both home and abroad to Dalian, where you will share your vision for global public welfare and world economic development.

As the most influential non-governmental organization in the world, the World Economic Forum has been dubbed "the United Nations of the economic field".

Each year, more than 2,000 senior leaders from political and economic circles of various countries attend the annual meeting to discuss significant issues in the political, economic and cultural fields, as well as the problems they foresee.

The "Davos Forum" has become an important window to the world through which we can observe the new achievements, new theories and new trends in global economic development. Moreover, it helps shape trends in global economic development.

Here, leaders from different circles join hands to reshape the development process of the world, its regions and trade sectors.

Here, they devote themselves to the work of enhancing people's living standards.

And here, they try to build up a world-class company management system, which pays equal attention to value and order.

This year marks the first time that the World Economic Forum has stepped out of the beautiful town of Davos in Switzerland.

The convening of the Davos Forum in China, a developing country, symbolizes a relocation of the global economic barycenter from the West to the East.

This also proves the persistent principle of the World Economic Forum: liberal economy and economic globalization.

"From Davos to Dalian," the forum has been relocated from Europe to Asia, forming a bridge for economic cooperation between Europe, America and Asia.

This not only holds great significance for the realization of harmonious development of the global economy, but also provides a platform for China's government and companies to get a further understanding of the latest political and economic problems and hot issues.

It is beneficial for China to further integrate with mainstream global economy and speed up its efforts to open up to the outside world and participate in global economic cooperation on a larger scale, broader scope and higher level.

Dalian is very lucky to be the host city of the Inaugural Annual Meeting of the New Champions.

I believe that our guests will witness and experience Dalian as an open city full of vitality. In recent years, Dalian has stood by the concept of scientific development and has seized the double opportunity offered by the country's strategy to revitalize Northeast China and by the opening up process, in order to boost its development.

At present, the city is sparing no effort to build itself into an important international shipping center in Northeast Asia, and has quickened the construction of new industrial bases.

For investors, Dalian has become the place to be -- an ideal place for global industrial relocation.

Dalian is a green romantic city. For years, it has strived to become an ecological and livable city.

It attaches great importance to improving the urban environment and concentrates on protecting urban ecology. Sunshine, sand, beaches and waves are now an indispensable part of the happy and healthy life of Dalian's citizens. Beautiful clothes, passion for football and the ubiquitous lawn contribute to the romantic and fashionable character of the city.

Dalian is a harmonious city. It has carried out a series of projects to benefit people, to cultivate a cultural atmosphere, to create a sound and safe social environment and to inspire people's innovative capabilities.

The city is rapidly progressing on the road to internationalization.

Dalian is a new champion city in the IT field. Through nine years of development, both the output of the software industry and software exports are now increasing at a rate of 50 percent annually.

Dalian is the only international model city for the software industry in China. It is destined to become a new champion in the fields of global software and service outsourcing in the years ahead.

The Inaugural Annual Meeting of the New Champions-"from Davos to Dalian", provides golden opportunities for fledgling domestic companies to walk onto the global platform.

Currently, half of the global gross domestic product (GDP) is generated from markets that are newly arising.

And in the next 25 years, nearly 97 percent of world GDP growth will be from these markets.

These newcomers are making their presence felt and reshaping the global economic distribution.

Far-sighted companies will expand at an unprecedented pace and actively gain more business opportunities.

Here in Dalian, the World Economic Forum is offering a unique new platform for the champions and leaders of the new generation.

The forum supports these leaders to sustain all kinds of challenges in the face of completely new locations, markets, cultures and regulation systems.

Dalian firmly believes that the Dalian "Summer Davos" will become a premium brand for the World Economic Forum in Asia.

Dalian will be the starting point for the long journey of these new champions.

(China Daily 09/06/2007 page68)