OVER 2,000 delegates, including government officials, entrepreneurs and scholars from 60 countries and regions are expected to attend the Boao Forum for Asia (BFA) annual conference, authorities said at a press conference yesterday.

Premier Li Keqiang will attend the opening ceremony of the BFA annual conference and deliver a keynote speech tomorrow, said BFA Secretary General Li Baodong at the press conference.

Nearly 100 top corporate executives and 1,000 entrepreneurs will be among the 2,000 delegates attending this year’s conference, Li said.

The BFA annual conference runs from March 26 to 29 this year in Boao, a coastal town in Hainan Province, with the theme “Shared Future, Concerted Action, Common Development.”

“I believe that the Boao Forum for Asia is an open and inclusive platform, which welcomes policy-makers, entrepreneurs and scholars to freely discuss problems we all face and share their ideas and suggestions on the global economy and international relations,” Li said.

Meanwhile a Boao Forum for Asia (BFA) report titled “Development of Emerging Economies Annual Report 2019,” was released at the press conference. The report said major emerging economies will maintain a similar level of economic growth in 2019 as last year.

The major emerging economies, defined by the forum as “E11,” refer to the economies of Argentina, Brazil, China, India, Indonesia, the Republic of Korea, Mexico, Russia, Saudi Arabia, South Africa and Turkey.

Slightly pressured by the economic slowdown, the economies saw average GDP growth of about 5.2 percent in 2018, slightly lower than their growth rate in 2017. Despite their easing growth, their growth rate was higher than that of the world economy as a whole, the report said.

Drastic fluctuations of economic growth in the E11 economies will be less likely to occur in 2019, but the economies would still be faced with downward pressure. In consideration of reinforced policy means by various countries to address economic recession risks, economic growth of the E11 in 2019 may basically be at a similar level compared with 2018, the report said.

(Xinhua)