The Beijing CBD is now holding the presidency of the World CBD Alliance - its first time - and will be hosting the Alliance's annual meeting from Sept 15 to 19.

The Alliance was established on Nov 28, 2008 in Paris, France with the goal of pursuing sustainable development in CBDs around the world and increasing exchanges and cooperation for common development.

It now has 16 members and its business is handled through a rotating presidency that lasts two years. China will have it to 2012.

A Beijing CBD Administrative Committee was set up in 2010 at the Beijing CBD Business Festival, to prepare for its stint as president.

Beijing's CBD has done everything it can to handle its new responsibility skillfully and has had some success in recruiting new members.

The administrative committee have reached out to a number of other CBDs and enterprises that are interested in joining the alliance, including Amsterdam's, in the Netherlands, Korea's Incheon Songdo International Business District, the Hongkong Land Co, and the United Arab Emirates' International Investment Group.

During the 2011 Beijing CBD International Business Festival, these CBDs and enterprises will be able to apply for membership formally. Observers expect that, after the festival, the World CBD Alliance will see even further expansion.

Since taking the presidency of World CBD Alliance, Beijing CBD has always developed the Alliance as a platform for exchange and cooperation, exploring new thought for its development and increasing its promotion.

At the same time, Beijing CBD has organized international conferences and seminars, added website content and expanded the Alliance expert team.

Another business festival high point will be the release of the 2011 World CBD development report, which is a systematic analysis of global CBD development.

It combines a creative evaluation system with case studies and is expected to give the CBD group more attention and contribute to its leadership in urbanization and future, development trends.

This report is part of the World CBD Alliance's pioneering work and is one way to fill in some of the gaps in the systematic study of CBDs.

(China Daily 09/14/2011 page32)