|
Nations 'benefit from China's growth'
(China Daily)
Updated: 2006-02-21 06:05
China to host Davos-style annual meets
The annual summits of the World Economic Forum (WEF) have long been
synonymous with Davos.
But from next year, the glamorous Swiss ski resort will have to share the
spotlight with a Chinese city when the WEF's summer summit series start, said
Zhang Xiaoqiang.
According to the agreement signed with Dr Klaus Schwab, founder and executive
chairman of WEF, China will host the Global Industry Summit annually but it was
not announced which city would be given the honour.
Zhang also said that the government had approved the WEF's plan to set up a
representative office in Beijing, the first of its kind globally, by June this
year.
The Beijing office will liaise with "emerging global companies," to pave way
for the "Summer Davos" and the Chinese Government shares with the WEF the
determination "to make the summer summit an annual gathering as famous as its
annual Davos summit," Zhang said.
Incorporated in 1971 as a foundation in Geneva, Switzerland, the WEF is an
independent organization committed to improving the state of the world by
engaging leaders in partnerships to shape global, regional and industry agendas.
The China summits, however, will have targets different from the Davos
gathering, Zhang explained.
In addition to politicians, high-profile think-tanks and non-governmental
organizations, Davos is a meeting place for the world's top 1,000 multinationals
each with no less than US$4 billion in annual sales.
The summer summit in China will be a destination for emerging global
companies, or those with annual sales ranging between US$250 million and US$4
billion, and no less than 15 per cent year-on-year growth.
Zhang said the WEF aims to attract up to 1,000 such global companies in five
years and help them grow into the world's next-generation business leaders.
The opening of the WEF office in Beijing is significant because "the time is
ripe" for both China and the rest of the world.
"China is yearning for a greater global presence as the rest of the world
eagerly looks east, to China, to India, and to all of Asia."
The representative office will benefit co-operation between China and the
WEF, and between Chinese and international companies, he said.
When signing the agreement, Schwab said WEF had chosen China for its Global
Industry Summit because it believed "China is well positioned to serve as a
global hub for working with the next generation of corporate champions."
The WEF first engaged with China 26 years ago, and now, he said, the opening
of its office in China would underline its commitment to the country and
reinforce its effort to work with the companies that would shape the 21st
century.
He said he expects the Global Industry Summit to be a "flagship event" and a
"primary community-building activity" for the global growth companies. It would
help bring along WEF's existing resources to Asia, "to emphasize the needs and
aspirations of companies that are operating globally, developing recognized
global brands and managing extremely rapid expansion."
The WEF's plan, according to Zhang, is that about one quarter of the global
growth company community membership will comprise international companies based
in China; another quarter, the rest of Asia; and the remaining distributed
around the world.
By facilitating Chinese companies expand their global reach, the WEF
programme also coincides with China's national development blueprint, he added.
The Chinese Ministry of Commerce announced last year
that the country is to nurture 50 enterprises reach the top 500 in the world by
2015. At the moment, there are only about 20 companies among the world's top 500.
|
