BEIJING, October 30. /TASS/. The Boao Forum for Asia (BFA) Annual Conference 2024 will be held in South China's Hainan Province approximately on March 26-29. This was announced by the Chairman of the BFA Board of Directors, former UN Secretary General Ban Ki-moon.

According to a message posted on the BFA's WeChat social networking page, Ban Ki-moon made the announcement on Monday during the 2nd BFA Global Economic Development and Security Forum held in Changsha, Hunan Province, central China. "In 2024, the annual Boao Forum will be held in China's Hainan province approximately from March 26-29," the former UN secretary-general said.

He said the issue was discussed at the October 29 meeting of the BFA board of directors. The chairman added that next year's Boao Forum will focus on key development challenges facing countries in the Asian region and the world. Its objective will be to "facilitate international cooperation in the face of challenges."

The BFA has been regularly held since 2001 and has about 30 participating countries (Asia-Pacific states). It was not held in 2020 because of the pandemic, but in 2021 and 2022 it was organized in an in-person format, and this time it will be held on March 28-31. The Boao Forum for Asia is called the Eastern Davos; it is a major platform for the signing of major agreements, coordination of positions between representatives of business and government circles of Asian countries and all other regions of the world. Chinese authorities pay great attention to its development and view this mechanism as an effective instrument of soft diplomacy, which promotes and strengthens Beijing's international contacts.