BEIJING: On the morning of April 20, the opening ceremony of the Boao Forum for Asia (BFA) Annual Conference 2021 was held in Boao, Hainan Province. Chinese President Xi Jinping delivered a keynote speech titled “Pulling Together Through Adversity and Toward a Shared Future for All” via video link. Chinese Vice President Wang Qishan was present at the event. Chairman of COSCO SHIPPING Capt. Xu Lirong, Director of the Board of COSCO SHIPPING Mr. Wang Haimin, and Directors of COSCO SHIPPING, including Mr. Ho, David Hing-Yuen, Mr. Xu Donggen and Mr. Luo Jianchuan, attended the opening ceremony on invitation and listened to President Xi’s remarks.

On the sidelines of the annual conference, Chinese Vice President Wang Qishan attended the launching ceremony of the Retrospective Exhibition on the 20th Anniversary of BFA, and held talks with Chinese and foreign entrepreneurs. Capt. Xu Lirong participated in all these events. 

On the evening of April 20, Capt. Xu Lirong attended a dialogue meeting between Chinese and U.S. entrepreneurs, and delivered a speech as a representative of entrepreneurs.  

Xu said that faced with the dual challenges of a global pandemic and increasing uncertainties in the Chinese and U.S. trade policies, the China-U.S. economic and trade relations have still displayed strong resilience. In the post-pandemic era, making a concerted effort to safeguard the stability of the global industrial chain and supply chain serves the fundamental interests of the two countries. Putting people first and creating benefits for both sides is a principle that the Chinese and U.S. business communities should uphold in the long run.

 On behalf of Capt. Xu Lirong, who is the member of the BFA Advisory Committee, Mr. Wang Haimin attended the meeting of the advisory committee on April 18.

Relevant heads of COSCO SHIPPING Lines, COSCO SHIPPING Ports, COSCO SHIPPING Boao, Hainan Harbor and Shipping Holding Co., Ltd. and the Public Relations Division of COSCO SHIPPING attended the related events as well.

This year marks the 20th anniversary of BFA. As a core service provider and infrastructure investor of the Forum, COSCO SHIPPING has provided services for the Annual Conference for twenty consecutive years, with a cumulative investment of over 5 billion yuan and deeply involved in the development and service of the Forum. 

Enhanced COSCO SHIPPING Brand Image during the BFA Annual Conference 2021

To celebrate the 20th anniversary of BFA, COSCO SHIPPING invested nearly 400 million yuan this year to build the BFA Theme Park, renovate the BFA Hotel and International Convention Center, and upgraded the BFA permanent site with high standards. The corporation also carried out precise pandemic prevention and control measures and strengthened training to fully improve its service standards, which contributed to the event’s success with brand new infrastructure and services. Owing to all these efforts, the brand of COSCO SHIPPING was widely promoted during the conference. 

This year, the conference guides again wore the traditional dress of the Li ethnic minority, with a name tag and a guide card bearing the cartoon image of Captain Panda of COSCO SHIPPING. Among all the service personnel, those usherettes and female guides, who were in cheongsams made from the Li brocade with traditional silver accessories on their head, became a beautiful scenery of the event as they showed up in the hotel lobby.   

Better Service for the BFA Annual Conference

This year, COSCO SHIPPING once again made an all-out effort to serve the conference. Apart from the renovation of facilities, the conference service also saw significant improvements. Based on strict security measures for pandemic prevention, COSCO SHIPPING managed to provide more sophisticated and meticulous services to the participating guests and media workers from all over the world.