The third annual meeting of the Boao Forum for Asia (BFA) is scheduled to be held April 24-25 at Boao in south China's Hainan Province.  

The current session will have many new faces, including Chinese President Hu Jintao, Cambodian Prime Minister Hun Sen, Pakistani Prime Minister Mir Zafarullah Khan Jamali, Gzech President Vaclav Klaus, former US President George Bush and former Mexico President Ernesto Zedillo Ponce De Leon.

Participants attending the session more than once comprise former Malaysian Prime Minister Datuk Seri Mahathir Bin Mohamad, former president of the Philippines Fidel Ramos, former Australian Primer Minister Robert James Lee Hawke, Hong Kong Special Administrative Region Chief Executive Tung Chee-Hwa and Macao Special Administrative Region Chief Executive Ho Hau Wah.

Also present will be government ministers from Japan, the Republic of Korea, Singapore, India, Kazakhstan, Australia and New Zealand, 26 Chinese ministers and officials at the provincial level and representatives of prestigious multinational companies. The session also attract 420 Chinese and overseas journalists.

Long Yongtu, secretary-general of the BFA, said BFA is an open event, and Asians welcome people from all over the world to discuss Asian issues.

The appearance of a growing number of new faces indicates that the forum is exerting a bigger influence, he added.

(Xinhua News Agency April 21, 2004)