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'Asian Davos' meet next month

By K.K. Katyal

`Asian Davos' or the Boao Forum for Asia, aimed at enhancing economic cooperation and exchange among Asian countries (and between them and the rest of the world), is scheduled to meet in the first week of November in Boao, Hainan province of China.

This second conference of the Asian forum acquires special significance in view of the assertiveness by developing countries at the recent Cancun ministerial meeting of WTO. Its organisers expect it to exceed in scale and participation than the last year's conference which was attended by delegates from governments, business and academia of 48 countries and regions. An impressive array of world leaders, scheduled to take part in the discussions includes the Prime Ministers of China (Wen Jiabao) and Singapore (Goh Chok Tong), the President of Pakistan (Pervez Musharraf) and the former Prime Minister of India, I.K. Gujral.

The Asian counterpart of the World Economic Forum, headquartered at Davos, was conceived some five years ago by the former Australian Prime Minister, Bob Hawk, the former Japanese Prime Minister, Morihiro Hosokawa, and the former Filipino President, Fidel V. Ramos, and it received enthusiastic support from China. Beijing readily accepted the suggestion by some prominent Asian leaders that Boao, the capital of Hainan province, the largest special economic zone in China, be the venue of the Asian Forum.

Both Gen. Musharraf and Mr. Gujral are to speak at sessions which have a four-point theme: development prospects of Asian economy, review and prospects of economic and trade cooperation of Asia, financial security and cooperation in Asia, and approach to Asian development (balancing economic and social policies). That Gen. Musharraf will raise the Kashmir issue in some form or the other is considered certain in view of Pakistan's pet theory that the removal of political irritants (its code words for settlement of the Kashmir problem) is a pre-requisite for economic cooperation. Also, it goes without saying that Mr. Gujral would provide a suitable reply.

Among the other world leaders scheduled to take part in the discussions on November 2 and 3 are the President of Turkmenistan (Sparmurt Niyazoo), the vice-president of the World Bank (Jamal-ud-din Kassum), the president of the World Economic Forum (Shwab), the former New Zealand Prime Minister, Jenny Shipley, and the FICCI leader (A.C. Muthiah).

The rationale for establishing `Asian Davos' is explained by its organisers thus: "Although Asian countries have participated in many international conferences, Asia as a whole lacks a forum led by Asians and guided from perspectives of Asian interests and views, providing an opportunity to discuss exclusively Asian issues.''

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