The Fortune Global Forum 2005 will be held in Beijing on May 16-18, with the theme of "China and New Asian Century."

Over 800 delegates from around the world will attend the event. Chinese President Hu Jintao will deliver the forum's opening address at a Gala Dinner on May 16.

Fortune Global Forum is an annual forum for world economic magnates to discuss issues that global businesses face. It is held by the Fortune magazine under the Time-Warner Group of the United States.

Coming into being in 1930, the Fortune magazine began to appraise and select the top 500 US enterprises with the largest operational revenue in the country in 1955.

In 1990, it began to publish a ranking of the top 500 industrial enterprises worldwide. And in 1994, it expanded the top 500 ranking to the service industry.

The ranking is based mainly on operational revenues. Factors taken into consideration also include assets, net income, sales volume, the number of employees, investment and dividend.

This year will be the ninth forum and the third times held in China. Fortune Global Forum was first convened in Singapore in 1995. The annual event was then held in Barcelona in 1996, Bangkok in 1997, Budapest in 1998, Shanghai in 1999, Paris in 2000, Hong Kong in 2001 and Washington in 2002.

(Xinhua News Agency May 15, 2005)