China News Service, Boao, March 25th Title: "Boao Time" opens and presents four highlights

China News Service reporter Liu Liang

The 2025 Annual Meeting of the Boao Forum for Asia kicks off in Boao, Hainan on March 25th, with a meeting lasting 4 days. Ding Xuexiang, member of the Standing Committee of the Political Bureau of the CPC Central Committee and Vice Premier of the State Council, will be invited to attend the opening ceremony of the annual meeting on March 27 and deliver a keynote speech. This annual meeting is themed "Creating the Future of Asia in the Changes of the World" and focuses on global and regional development trends and challenges, presenting four major highlights.

Looking for the "stabilizer" of economic development

At present, there are still many "stumbling blocks" in the road to world economic recovery. Factors such as increasing trade barriers between countries and geopolitical and policy uncertainty are intertwined, bringing challenges to global economic recovery. Against this background, how to find a "stabilizer" for global economic development has become one of the focus of this annual meeting.

Issues such as rebuilding trust in the face of major changes in the world, maintaining global supply chain stability, and finding monetary and financial stability in an unstable world have been included in the agenda of this annual meeting. Participants will focus on the challenges in the recovery of the world economy and find a way to break through the world economic development.

Asia will continue to become an important engine of the world economy. According to the "2025 Annual Report on the Asian Economic Prospects and Integration Process" released by the Boao Forum on Asia on the 25th, based on purchasing power parity, the proportion of Asian economies' total GDP in the world is expected to rise from 48.1% in 2024 to 48.6% in 2025. This annual meeting will focus on issues such as revitalizing APEC and the future of regional integration, so as to better contribute Asian strength to the development of the world economy.

Promote regional and global trade

"Hainan Free Trade Port is about to close its borders. This is an important measure for China to expand its opening up to the outside world. It will effectively promote the liberalization and facilitation of regional and global trade and investment, which is of great significance under the current situation." Zhang Jun, Secretary-General of the Boao Forum for Asia, said during the annual meeting on the 25th.

In recent years, with the continuous deepening of the construction of Hainan Free Trade Port, Hainan has gradually built a policy system with the main characteristics of "zero tariffs, low tax rates, simple tax system" and "five free, convenient and safe and orderly flow", becoming a new frontier for China's opening up to the outside world.

Under this background, this annual meeting sets up multiple sub-forums around trade. Participants will focus on the development of global free trade ports, release the greater potential of regional free trade arrangements, cross-border e-commerce cooperation and other issues, and make suggestions for regional and global trade development.

Build a future of sustainable development together

Boao Forum for Asia has long been paying close attention to the cutting-edge issues of sustainable development in Asia and the world. According to the forum's agenda, the annual meeting will focus on issues such as energy transformation and climate governance.

For example, at the sub-forum on accelerating the construction of a new energy system, participants will discuss which top-level design and incentive policies should be adopted by various governments to lead the high-quality development of energy; as the main body of scientific and technological innovation, enterprises will have specific practices in energy diversification and systematic comprehensive utilization, green energy and raw material replacement actions, and further answers will also be given.

At present, many countries are planning to build green and clean energy tracks, but the energy development process of different countries is different. How to strengthen cooperation is the key to promoting global energy transformation. This annual meeting set up a sub-forum on "Jointly Promoting Asia's Energy Transformation", which will focus on how to cooperate in funding and infrastructure construction in the Asian region and explore the "breaking" and "establishment" of energy transformation.

Foresight on China's reform and economy

China's economic trends have attracted the attention of the world. On the first day of this annual meeting, a high-end dialogue on "China's Reform and Economic Forecast" was held, and well-known economists discussed the direction of economic development and reform.

Peng Sen, president of the China Economic System Reform Research Association and former deputy director of the National Development and Reform Commission, emphasized at the forum that reform and opening up is still a key move that determines China's future and destiny, and it is also the most important driving force for high-quality development. In his opinion, it is necessary to adhere to reform and opening up to enhance the internal driving force of development, especially to use economic system reform to break through barriers that restrict the development of productivity and promote the sustained recovery and improvement of the economy.

This year marks the end of China's 14th Five-Year Plan. As the host country of the forum, China has continued to convey signals of China's economic development through the Boao Forum for Asia Annual Meeting for many years. According to convention, many well-known Chinese economists and senior financial officials will appear at various venues of the forum this year to interpret new trends in economic policies. What will China's economy take next? Through the Boao Forum for Asia, an important information field, the outside world will have a clearer perception. (End)