At a press conference held in Beijing Wednesday, Mike Federle, publisher of Fortune magazine, said that 59 of the 300-plus delegates already registered for the Fortune Global Forum represent companies listed in the Fortune 500.

Jiang Weiqiang, a senior official with the State Council Information Office (SCIO), read a who's who of senior Chinese officials who will attend the event, which will be held in Beijing from May 16 to 18. They include National Development and Reform Commission Minister Ma Kai, Minister of Commerce Bo Xilai, Minister of Science and Technology Xu Guanhua, Minister of Information Industry Wang Xudong, State Council Information Office Minister Zhao Qizheng and Bank of China Governor Zhou Xiaochuan.

President Hu Jintao will attend the opening ceremony of the forum.

Federle said the forum's speakers would include such internationally renowned commentators as economist Hernando de Soto and high-profile CEOs Helmut Pank from BMW, John B. Menzer from Wal-Mart International, Charles Prince from Citigroup, Richard Wagoner from General Motors and Edward Zander from Motorola.

The presence of the ministers and the international CEOs at the forum, said Federle, would help Fortune achieve its goal of taking an in-depth look at the changes in China and Asia and discussing related issues candidly.

This will be the ninth Fortune Global Forum, and the third time it is being held in China.

(Xinhua News Agency April 7, 2005)