This year's Boao Forum for Asia (BFA) Annual Conference is scheduled for April 20-22 in the town of Boao, south China's Hainan Province, attracting government officials and heads of international organizations, guests from business and academia all over the world.

With focus on the post-pandemic development agenda for Asia and the world, what can we expect from the forum?

BFA was founded in 2001 as Asian countries sought economic integration in the aftermath of the 1998 financial crisis.

The first annual BFA conference, held in 2001, was attended by leaders of 26 initial countries. 

On April 20, 2006, Israel and New Zealand were added to BFA initial countries' list. The Maldives was added on March 23, 2016, thereby increasing the number of initial countries to 29.

The BFA annual conference hosted its 20th edition last year after being canceled in 2020 due to the raging COVID-19 pandemic.

Themed "A World in Change: Join Hands to Strengthen Global Governance and Advance Belt and Road Cooperation," the 2021 forum attracted over 4,000 participants, according to the organization.

As a non-governmental and non-profit international organization, the forum remains steadfast in its commitment to promoting regional economic integration and bringing Asian countries closer to their development goals.

COVID-19 resurgences, the Russia-Ukraine conflict and the rising global inflation all weigh on the global outlook for 2022.

Under the theme of "The World in COVID-19 & Beyond: Working Together for Global Development and Shared Future," the upcoming forum will be an on-site occasion supplemented with online links.

Focused on deepening regional integration, attendees will exchange views on global economic trends, sustainable development of the digital economy, green recovery and ways to close the immunization gap.

The Asian Economic Integration Report 2022, released by the Asian Development Bank, noted that trade among the Asia-Pacific economies has risen to the highest level in three decades. 

It has bolstered the region's economic resilience amid the COVID-19 pandemic, even as mobility restrictions and supply-chain disruptions have hampered global trade. 

Using the purchasing power parity model as a measurement, Asian economies were projected to be larger than the rest of the world for the first time in 2020 since the 19th century, even as the economic growth rate fell unexpectedly in 2019 in the context of global economic slowdown, which was then followed by the disruptive global pandemic.

Cooperation is key to containing the still-rampant COVID-19 pandemic. Among the world's biggest current challenges, the pandemic has already claimed over six million lives.

Against such a global backdrop, the forum provides an opportunity to hear Asia's voice.

Script writer: Duan Fengyuan

Copy editors: John Goodrich, Claudine Housen

Video editor: Liang Si

On-camera reporter: Liang Si

Cameraman: Yang Shengjie

Cover & graphics: Yu Peng

Chief editor: Wu Gang

Producer: Wang Kailin

Supervisor: Liu Yuqi