BOAO /China, April 19. /TASS/. The Boao Forum for Asia (BFA) will hold two sessions on the social and economic development of Hainan and improving the competitiveness of the Hainan free trade port. This was announced by the organizers.
Governor of Hainan Province Feng Fei will participate in both "Conversation with Hainan" and "Global Free Trade Port Development Forum", which will be held on April 21, the second day of the BFA. Participants in the discussions include Li Jun, deputy secretary of the Hainan Provincial Party Committee, World Bank Director for China Martin Reiser, and Shahbaz Khan, director and representative of the UNESCO Beijing Office.
"This time the forum will further focus on new trends in the reform of international trade and economic rules and relevant topical issues," said Dai Zhen, head of the Foreign Affairs Commission of the provincial party committee. "We are accelerating the development of the strategic system of Hainan Free Trade Port, so the focus this year will be on the systemic factors for openness and the opportunities for the whole world to take advantage of them."
According to the official, participants will discuss the macro and micro-economic issues in detail regarding strengthening ties between Hainan and members of the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) as well as countries participating in major regional mechanisms such as the Regional Comprehensive Economic Partnership
According to the BFA program, the main task of the upcoming discussions is to outline measures that will increase international competitiveness of the free trade port, simplify customs procedures and ease the tax burden for businesses. In the course of the forum, Hainan's competent institutions are expected to announce a number of achievements concerning the internationalization of the province's economy, in particular, to inform the public about the establishment of the Hainan Free Trade Port and ASEAN analytical alliance.
The forum has been held regularly in the small village of Boao in Hainan since 2001 and counts 29 participating countries (Asia-Pacific states). It did not take place in 2020 because of the pandemic, but in 2021 it was organized in a face-to-face format. The BFA is called the Eastern Davos: it is a major platform for signing important agreements, coordinating positions between representatives of business and government circles of Asian countries and all other regions of the world. The Chinese authorities pay great attention to its development and consider this mechanism as an effective instrument of soft diplomacy, which promotes the activation and strengthening of international contacts in Beijing.