The World Economic Forum (WEF) will kick off its five-day annual meeting for 2011 in the Swiss town Davos on Wednesday, and China is expected to figure prominently this year.
This year's WEF theme is "Shared Norms for the New Reality." According to this year's program, there will be four separate sessions exclusively on China-related topics, more than in previous years, including "Insights on China," "The Future of Chinese Enterprise," "China's Impact on Global Trade and Growth" and "New Realities of Modern China."
The session on "Insights on China" will take place during the first 75 minutes after the Annual Meeting kicks off on Wednesday, in which four Chinese representatives will discuss China's innovation policies, legal reform, the future of real estate and the impact of media, and to answer the question of "how will political priorities, economic realities and business issues shape China's growth and social dynamics?"
A particularly special session for this year's Annual Meeting is on "China's Impact on Global Trade and Growth" as the year 2011 marks a decade since China joined the World Trade Organization. Chen Deming, China's commerce minister, and Pascal Lamy, director-general of the WTO, will hold talks Thursday on topics such as China's export growth model and the future of multilateral trade.
Other topics related to China include China's economic and political relationships with India, the United States as well as countries in Southeast Asia and Africa.
Wei Jiafu, president and chief executive officer of China Ocean Shipping Group Co., has been selected as a co-chair of this year's Davos Annual Meeting.
Other Chinese officials and entrepreneurs like Liu Mingkang, chairman of China Banking Regulatory Commission, Wang Jianzhou, president of China Mobile Communications Corporation, and Liu Chuanzhi, chairman of the Board of Lenovo Group, will also participate in forums of a wide range of topics concerning China and the global economy.
According to the WEF, the number of Chinese delegates to the Davos Annual Meeting this year has gone up five-fold since a decade ago, hitting a new record high.
"It's a reflection of the accelerated leadership of China and India in the global and economic and intellectual discussions globally," said Robert Greenhill, the WEF's chief business officer.