Some of the world's top business leaders and Chinese senior officials will attend the Fortune Global Forum to be held in Beijing from May 16 to 18.

At a press conference held here Wednesday, Mike Federle, publisher of Fortune Group, said of the 300-plus delegates already registered for the forum, 59 represent companies listed in the Fortune Magazine's top 500 companies in the world.

Jiang Weiqiang, director general of the State Council Information Office (SCIO), said Chinese senior officials to attend the forum include Minister of Development and Reform Commission MaKai, Minister of Commerce Bo Xilai, Minister of Service and Technology Xu Guanhua, Minister of Information Industry Wang Xudong, Minister of SCIO Zhao Qizheng and Central Bank Governor Zhou Xiaochuan.

Chinese President Hu Jintao will attend the opening ceremony of the forum, according to an announcement made at a press conference on March 1.

Federle said the forum's speaker would include international commentators such as economist Hernando de Soto and high-profile CEOs Helmut Pank from BMW, John B. Menzer from Wal-Mart International, Charles Prince from Citigroup, Richard Wagoner from General Motors and Edward Zander from Motorola Inc.

Federle highlighted the importance of the presence of the ministers and the international CEOs at the forum, saying that it will help Fortune achieve its goal of taking a candid in-depth look at the changes in China and Asia discuss in a candid and in-depth way issues on the look at the changes in China and Asia and providing a chance for transnational companies.

This year's forum is the ninth Fortune Global Forum, and the third time to be held in China.

Source: Xinhua