Since 1979, China has maintained good cooperative relations with the World Economic Forum. China's leaders participated and delivered speeches in the annual meeting on many occasions.
They included Premier Li Peng, Vice Premier Zhu Rongji, Li Lanqing and Wu Bangguo successively. between 1992 and 2000, and Vice Premier Huang Ju, Zeng Peiyan, State Councilor Hua jianmin and Premier Wen jiabao.
China has dispatched delegations to the regional economic summits organized by the World Economic Forum since 1993. Between 1981 and 2006, the World Economic Forum, in collaboration with China Enterprise Confederation, convened an "International Senior Management Symposium" in China (renamed the "China Business Summit" in 1996), which was suspended after the "Summer Davos" Forum was held in China in 2007.
Usually the World Economic Forum convenes an annual meeting in Davos at the beginning of each year, so it is also called the "Davos Forum". Klaus Schwab, Chairman of the World Economic Forum, raised the idea of a "Summer Davos China" in 2005.
The Beijing representative office of the World Economic Forum was set up in June, 2006, and was the first representative body established outside Switzerland.
The World Economic Forum has convened its Annual Meeting of the New Champions ("Summer Davos" Forum) each year since 2007, aiming to create a platform for "enterprises expanding globally" to discuss and share experiences with well-established enterprises.
The first "Summer Davos" Forum was held in Dalian in September, 2007 with the same theme of the 2007 Davos Annual Meeting –"Changing the power equilibrium".
In September, 2008, the second Summer Davos Forum was held in Tianjin with the theme of the "Next round of growth". In September, 2009, the third Summer Davos Annual Meeting was held in Dalian with the theme of "Relanching growth". Premier Wen Jiabao attended the opening ceremony of the three forums and delivered speeches.
In addition, the World Economic Forum lays stress on cooperation with Chinese enterprises. By September, 2009, the number of Chinese enterprises becoming members of the World Economic Forum had exceeded 60.
The 2012 Summer Davos Forum, referred to as the "Wind vane of the world's economy", was held in Tianjin from Sept 11 to 13 . The number of guests set a new record.
The elite and politicians from all over the world ran a brainstorming session with the theme of "molding the economy in the future".
On September 11, 2013, the Seventh Summer Davos Forum was opened in Dalian. Premier Li Keqiang attended the forum and delivered a special address.
Edited by Wang Yifei and Brian Anthony Salter
