China wants to share the fruits of its rapid economic development with its Asian partners by forging closer economic and trade ties with nations throughout the vast continent.

That was the key message from the ninth China Daily CEO Roundtable in Beijing yesterday.

The Boao Forum for Asia Secretary-General Long Yongtu, chaired the forum hosted by China Daily Editor-in-Chief Zhu Ling.

The gathering was the first of its kind to be held in the Chinese capital, following similar successful forums in Hong Kong.

It attracted 30 China-based chief executive officers and senior executives from FORTUNE 500-listed multinational companies, who discussed the "China-Asia business partnership and its implication for multinationals."

"As a service from China Daily for the global business community, we are delighted to initiate such tailor-made roundtables for the CEOs of multinational companies so that they can learn and share with each other on how to better run their China operations," said Zhu.

China and Asia-Pacific CEOs from some of the world's largest and most famous firms, including Deloitte, BMW, Fidelity Management, Bayer, BASF, Kodak, British Airways, Nissan, Merrill Lynch, Shell, Pfizer and Walt Disney, shared their insights on China's further economic integration with Asia and its impact on global business.

"The key word is partnership. China and Asian countries should work together to share economic growth and common prosperity. Multinationals should play a key role in this process," stressed Long, who pledged China would seek to share its success with its neighbours.

(China Daily March 30, 2005)