The press conference of the 2016 BFA (Boao Forum For Asia) was held at the BFA International Convention Center on March 22. The theme of the conference was "New Future of Asia: New Vigor, New Prospects". Our notable alumni Zhou Wenzhong, also the former Chinese ambassador to the US and the Secretary-General of BFA, chaired the conference. Professor Lin Guijun was invited to attend the conference and deliver a keynote speech.

Zhou Wenzhong, the Secretary-General, introduced the preparations of the Forum to the media on the press conference. The conference focused on six topics including "entrepreneurial innovation", "Internet+", "G20 and international capacity cooperation", "new problems in global economy", "culture and sports" and "religion". The Forum was comprised of 88 events, including the opening ceremony, 51 sub-forums, 15 round-table conferences, 5 theme banquets, 10 dialogues with the entrepreneurs and 6 television debates. 2,100 representatives from 62 countries attended the forum. Among the representatives, 13 of them were heads of states and governments, including Premier of the State Council Li Keqiang, Prime Minister of Belgium Charles Michel, and the Prime Minister of Cambodia Hun Sen. 1,122 of the guests were from enterprises, including the senior managers of almost 200 Fortune 500 companies, 24 of them were the partners of the Forum, and 25 of them were media partners.

Professor Lin Guijun delivered the 2016 Annual Report of Asian Economic Integration at the conference. He stated that Asia was developing and changing in accordance with the global economy, however, as the growth rate of GDP is declining，Asian trade was not the engine of the world trade any longer. However, the share of Asia's exports in global trade is rising steadily. Due to the global economic downturn, Asia was becoming the highlight of global direct and indirect investment. The direct investment flow of ASEAN countries went up to a new high, with the greenfield investment of South Korea, India, and Vietnam rapidly increasing. In the meantime, it is noteworthy that the intermediate goods and trade interdependent rate among Asian countries was decreasing, and the capital account openness is slowing. The opinions of Professor Lin Guijun attracted much attention from the media.

Based in Asia but facing the world, the BFA aims to promote and deepen economic exchanges, coordinations and cooperations between Asia and other regions around the world and has become a high-level platform for governments, business circles and academic circles in Asia and other continents to conduct dialogues with respect to Asian and global matters. In addition, BFA is devoted to promoting the common development of Asian countries through the further integration with the regional economy.