On April 20, the First International Health Industry Forum of Boao Forum for Asia opened in Beijing. The Forum was co-hosted by the Boao Forum for Asia and the People’s Government of Beijing Municipality. Chen Zhu, Vice Chairman of the 12th and 13th Standing Committee of the National People’s Congress (NPC) and President of the Red Cross Society of China, attended and delivered an address. Zhou Xiaochuan, Vice Chairman of the 12th National Committee of the Chinese People’s Political Consultative Conference (CPPCC) and Vice Chairman of the Boao Forum for Asia; and Yin Yong, Deputy Secretary of the CPC Beijing Municipal Committee and Mayor of Beijing, made welcoming remarks.

Yin Yong said that the medicine and health industry has witnessed one of the most vibrant innovation scenes in the world as a result of the life science boom. In Beijing, the industry has also experienced rapid and high-quality development thanks to the city’s abundant scientific research resources, solid industrial foundation, and an increasingly favorable environment underpinned by government support, capital investment, entrepreneurship, and scientific innovation. Beijing will resolutely implement the country’s innovation-driven development strategy, push forward the frontiers of cutting-edge life science technologies, and encourage universities, scientific research institutes, and enterprises to collaborate on more groundbreaking technologies. Beijing will energize enterprises by improving full-chain services and accelerating the commercialization of original outcomes and technologies in an effort to turn the medicine and health industry into a critical driver for high-quality growth. In addition, the municipality will continue to safeguard human health by delivering more innovative outcomes and technological breakthroughs through more international cooperation and by utilizing policies regarding the "two zones" and the new round of preliminary trials in Zhongguancun. Beijing welcomes all friends at home and abroad to invest and do business in the city, so as to contribute more to building a global community of health for all.

Speakers at the opening ceremony also included Margaret Chan Fung Fu-chun, former Director-General of the World Health Organization and President of Global Health Forum of Boao Forum for Asia; Moin ul Haque, Pakistani Ambassador to China; Shen Hongbing, Academician of the Chinese Academy of Engineering, Deputy Director of the National Administration of Disease Prevention and Control, and Director of the Chinese Center for Disease Control and Prevention; Sun Da, Secretary of the CPC Committee and Vice President of China Charity Federation. Under the theme of “Global Health: Industrial Development and Sharing”, attendees discussed and shared successful practices to promote the innovation and development of the global medicine and health industry.

The opening ceremony was hosted by Li Baodong, Secretary General of the Boao Forum for Asia, and attended by Jin Wei, Member of the Standing Committee of CPC Beijing Municipal Committee and Vice Mayor of Beijing; and Mu Peng, Secretary General of the People’s Government of Beijing Municipality.

(Written by Yang Qi;  Video by Chen Xing and Song Hengyu)