When President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo attends the Boao Forum for Asia (BFA) slated this weekend in China’s southernmost island province of Hainan, she will be in elite company.

More than 200 senior government officials and 600 top businessmen from around the world, including the wealthiest of them all, Microsoft chairman Bill Gates, are among those who have confirmed their attendance to the April 20-22 forum which this year will look for new approaches and ideas for sustainable economic development in Asia.

BFA is a non-governmental, non-profit international organization modelled after the World Economic Forum (WEF) in Davos, Switzerland.

Founded by China and 26 Australasian states in February 2001, it is held annually in the tropical seaside town of Boao as a high-level forum for governments, businesses, experts and scholars. The focus of discussion is economics, the society, and the environment.

President Arroyo will be among an array of speakers who also include Gates, Pakistani Prime Minister Shaukat Aziz, and Nobel Prize Laureate Muhammad Yunus. They are expected to discuss the emerging opportunities and accompanying challenges facing Asia now and in the future.

The reputation of the Boao Forum has been favorably compared to the Davos Forum, named after a Swiss town, where the World Economic Forum originated. President Arroyo also attended this forum last January, along with other world leaders and top corporate business executives.

This year's BFA theme is "Asia Winning in Today's Global Economy -- Innovation and Sustainable Development."

Discussions will include such heavyweight topics as the integration of the Middle East and South Asia subcontinents into the Asian economy, and the balanced development of China, India and other Asian nations.

The President has been asked to participate in the opening Plenary Session of the Boao Forum along with Bill Gates, Muhammad Yunus and Prime Minister Shaukat Aziz of Pakistan.

The President brings to the Forum her expertise and strong grasp of regional and geo-political matters in her capacity as President and as Chair of ASEAN. 

The audience is made up of over 1,300 delegates from business, government, academia and the media, among other disciplines.

The topic of the opening Plenary Session is   "Asia Driving Global Growth." Themes that run throughout the agenda include Asian economic dynamism and the need for innovation tempered by the recognition of the need for sustainable development including energy efficiency.

The Boao Forum website also lists Wu Bangguo, Chairman, Standing Committee of the National People’s Congress of the People’s Republic of China as a keynote speaker, and former President Fidel Ramos and Chey Tae Won, Chairman of SK Group as individuals offering opening remarks.

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