21st Century Council Beijing Conference to be convened

The plenary meeting of the 21st Century Council, an internationally renowned think tank, will be held in Beijing on November 1-3, 2013, which is co-sponsored by CIIDS, CPIFA and Berggruen Institute on Governance.

The theme of the Conference is "Understanding China", aiming at understanding China's plan for the next decade, discussing China's development path and role in global governance.

Chinese leaders will meet with the delegates and speak at the meeting.

More than 40 former dignitaries, renowned scholars and business leaders from around the world are gathering at the site, including former British PM Gordon Brown, former Spanish PM Felipe Gonzalez, former Mexican President Ernesto Zedillo, former Chilean President Ricardo Lagos, former Italian PM Mario Monti, former Japanese House of Representatives Speaker Yohei Kono, professor Francis Fukuyama at Stanford University, professor Martin Jacques at the London School of Economics and Political Science, professor Kishore Mahbubani at the National University of Singapore, CNN host Fareed Zakaria, Executive Chairman of Google Eric Schmidt and eBay founder Pierre Omidyar.

Focused on the theme "Understanding China", the Council will be engaged in two-day closed-door discussions on China's political, economic, diplomatic and defense issues. Relevant Chinese ministries and provincial leaders, think tank scholars and entrepreneurs will attend the conference and deliver speeches, including CIIDS Chairman Zheng Bijian, CIIDS Executive Vice Chairman and former Chinese ambassador to France Wu Jianmin, NDRC Head Xu Shaoshi, Minister of Commerce Gao Hucheng, Minister of the Office of the Central Leading Group on Financial and Economic Affairs Liu He, Secretary of the CPC Yunnan Provincial Committee Qin Guangrong, Secretary of the CPC Zhejiang Provincial Committee Xia Baolong, Governor of Guangdong Province Zhu Xiaodan, Vice Mayor of Shanghai and Director of China (Shanghai) Pilot Free Trade Zone Administration Ai Baojun and Chairman of Legend Holdings Liu Chuanzhi. The lectures will cover topics such as China's decision-making process, the sustainability of China's economic prosperity, China's view of the world and international responsibilities, and the approach to a community of interests.

The 21st Century Council is a non-governmental forum co-launched in 2011 by a number of world-renowned statesmen, strategists and entrepreneurs, including American investor Berggruen, former French President Nicolas Sarkozy and former German Chancellor Gerhard Schroeder. With the current No.1 mission to enable G20’s action in global governance, the Council has regular get-togethers each year for suggestions to governments on how to improve global governance, and is known as "the shadow G20."

Zheng Bijian, CIIDS Chairman and former Executive Vice President of Party School of the Central Committee of CPC, was also invited as a founding member. The Council endorsed Mr. Zheng’s idea of expanding “the convergence of interests” and constructing “a community of interests”, and accepted it as the Council’s guideline.

According to the Council, as China gains its overall national strength, the country is playing an increasingly important role in the construction of a new international political and economic order. The world and China need to deepen mutual understanding. The Beijing Conference is a window through which they can understand the governance philosophy and development strategy of China's new-generation leaders, in order to promote cooperation with China in the field of global governance.