Hundreds of industry leaders from China and aboard, along with prominent political personalities, gathered in Shenzhen to kick off the first Boao Forum for Asia (BAF) CEO Summit in Wuzhou Guest House yesterday.

Thailand Prime Minister Thaksin Shinawatra made a keynote speech yesterday on Asia's competitiveness in relation to the world's economic future, which was to be followed by two-day forums on a number of different topics, from corporate branding to technology innovation, and from entrepreneurship to responsibilities of young leaders.

Many leading companies were present at the summit, including UPS, Microsoft, Citigroup, Alcatel, Morgan Stanley, Goldman Sachs, Beijing Eagle Investment Company, Baidu.com, and Tencent.

A "CEO scheme" introduced by Shinawatra in Thailand amused the audience. "I now have CEO governors in all 76 provinces of Thailand and some 60 CEO ambassadors around the world," he said.

The key qualities these CEOs were required to possess were leadership, management skills, responsibility and accountability, he said.

While BFA secretary general Long Yongtu said the summit was for friendly communication between Asian CEOs so that they could learn from each other, the company chiefs, economists and policy makers attending the event shared views on serious topics likes Asian growth and energy problems. They will further discuss issues like housing solutions, logistics industry, world economic development and young leaders' responsibility today.

The BFA was initiated by former Australian Prime Minister Bob Hawke, former Philippine President Fidel Ramos and former Japanese Prime Minister Hosokawa Morihiro in 1998.

It was officially established Feb. 27, 2001, when delegates from the 26 founding member countries adopted the Declaration on the BFA. They held the first BFA annual conference in April 2002.

Editor: Donald