SHANGHAI: More than 300 world-famous scholars and senior officials will attend the Shanghai Forum 2007, which opens today at Fudan University.

Xin Qiang, a professor at Fudan University, said the forum, "Economic Globalization and the Choice of Asia", will focus on globally popular topics such as energy, currencies and common markets.

He said the forum will be divided into five sections: finance sub-forum, Asian geo-economy & politics sub-forum, population and socio-economic development sub-forum, energy sub-forum schedule, and region economy sub-forum.

According to Fudan University, major discussions will be on the shaping mechanism of the RMB exchange rate, monetary and financial co-operation in East Asia, global warming and energy consumption, the Asian economic development model and economic integration, and the rise of China and India.

At a banquet yesterday evening, the mayor of Shanghai, Han Zheng, welcomed the participants.

Han said the forum offers a perfect communication platform for academic, political, and business circles to meet and discuss topics of mutual interest.

The mayor said a consensus of the forum will be given at the closing ceremony.

Wang Shenghong, president of Fudan University, said key speeches and final reports of discussions, will be compiled into a book to be published by Fudan University.

(China Daily 05/25/2007 page4)