Euro-Asia Economic Forum to open in Xi'an next month

BEIJING, Oct. 12 -- The 2009 Euro-Asia Economic Forum is scheduled to open on Nov. 16 in Xi'an, northwest China's Shaanxi Province, according to a press conference held in Beijing Monday.

The theme of the two-day forum will be "Working Together to Facilitate Economic Recovery".

It would be important to hold the forum at such a crucial stage when the European and Asian countries were working together to fight the global economic downturn, said Zhang Deguang, Secretary-General of the Euro-Asia Economic Forum, at the press conference.

Zhang said the forum would hold a plenary meeting and four parallel meetings with sub-themes on finance, energy, customs and business and education.

About 600 to 700 delegates from the members and observers of the Shanghai Cooperation Organization (SCO), the UN organizations and other nations in Europe and Asia are expected to participate in the meeting.

The forum will be sponsored by 11 agencies, including the SCO Secretariat, the United Nations Development Program (UNDP), the secretariat of Euro-Asia Economic Community, the Chinese Ministry of Commerce and Shaanxi Provincial Government.

The biennial Euro-Asia Economic Forum was first launched in China in 2005 with the first two rounds held in Xi'an in 2005 and 2007. Xi'an was named the permanent venue of the forum in April 2007.