Bill Gates, Jack Ma among confirmed guests for Hongqiao forum

Bill Gates, chairman of TerraPower, Jack Ma, chairman of Alibaba Group, William Ding, chairman and CEO of Netease, plus a bunch of other heavyweights in political, industrial and academic circles, have confirmed their attendance at the Hongqiao International Economic and Trade Forum, which will serve as an important part of the upcoming China International Import Expo.

To be held on the afternoon of November 5 – the first day of the expo – the forum will consist of three parallel sessions that respectively focus on the topics of “trade and opening,” “trade and innovation,” and “trade and investment."

At the parallel sessions, leaders from international organizations, entrepreneurs and academics from home and abroad will deliver speeches and discuss issues on the topics of the parallel sessions and the most concerning problems in the international economy.

At the “trade and opening” parallel session, Jean-Paul Agon, chairman and CEO of L'Oréal, John Denton, Secretary General of International Chamber of Commerce, Long Guoqiang, associate director of the Development Research Center of the State Council, and other significant important persons will deliver speeches.

At the “trade and innovation” session, Bill Gates, Jack Ma, José Ángel Gurría, Secretary General of Organization for Economic Co-operation and Development, Justin Yifu Lin, director of Institute of New Structural Economics of Peking University, and other renowned people will attend.

At the “trade and investment” session, Jim Hackett, president and CEO of Ford Motor Company, Lei Jun, founder, chairman and CEO of Xiaomi Corporation, Dr. Mukhisa Kituyi, Secretary General of the United Nations Conference on Trade and Development, will be present.