The World Economic Forum (WEF) and China agreed on Wednesday to
establish a WEF office in Beijing that will lead to an annual
global industry summit in the Chinese capital as of 2007.
WEF founder and executive chairman, Klaus Schwab, signed a
memorandum of understanding on the establishment of the office with
a Chinese official.
"We have chosen China for our Global Industry Summit because we
believe China is well positioned to serve as a global hub for
working with the next generation of corporate champions," said
Schwab.
Schwab told reporters earlier in the day that the global
corporate landscape is changing with the emergence of more and more
companies from the developing world which will become global
players.
"What we are creating in China is a center for global
companies," he said, adding that the Global Industry Summit will be
a parallel platform of the Davos meeting for the next generation of
companies.
The WEF was founded in 1971 in Geneva with a commitment to
"improving the state of the world." The Davos meeting invites
business and political elite from around the world at the beginning
of each year to gauge the global economic outlook for the year and
to discuss global hot issues.
(Xinhua News Agency January 26, 2006)