Meeting of Initiators

On December 5-6, 2003, the Boao Forum for Asia, UNESCO, and the China Scholarship Council jointly hosted the Meeting of Initiators for the Education Forum for Asia-Beijing at the Beijing Diaoyutai State Guesthouse.  The Beijing Municipal Government organized the meeting, while the Beijing Science Park Culture & Education Development Company, Ltd. was the co-organizer.  Over 90 delegates from government education departments, international organizations, educational institutions, and leading companies attended the meeting.  A host of discussions exploring the issue of Asian educational cooperation led to the formation of The Initiative, which urges Asian countries to consolidate their educational resources in order to meet the challenges facing them by global competition.

At the meeting, proposals to launch the following were discussed: the Asian Scholarship Fund, the Asian Business School, the Asian Development Research Center, the Boao Consultation Mechanism on Education Cooperation for Asia, and the Asian Development Fund for Training and Research.  It was also agreed that the first annual conference of the Education Forum for Asia would be held in Beijing, China on August 22-26, 2004.