Guangzhou readies for Fortune forum

Guangzhou is all prepared for the upcoming 2017 Fortune Global Forum and the "Flower City" is looking forward to meeting distinguished guests from all across the globe, said Cai Chaolin, director of Guangzhou 2017 Fortune Global Forum Executive Committee at a special press conference held for the forum on Dec 3.

The global forum is scheduled to be hosted in Guangzhou from Dec 6 to 8 with more than 1,000 representatives from 388 enterprises including 152 Fortune top 500 companies registered for the event, hitting a record high in terms of the number of Fortune Global 500 companies and CEO attendees.

A total of 115 Chinese companies enters this year's Fortune Global 500 list and China is no longer a follower but a leader in many areas such as drone R&D and mobile payment, according to Alan Murray, chief content officer of Time Inc and editor-in-chief of Fortune who spoke at the press conference.

The 2017 Fortune Global Forum will focus on three business trends namely technological innovation, global political climate and the influence of China's rising to the world business, said Murray.

Murray, who arrived in Guangzhou on Dec 3, said Guangzhou looks even more beautiful every single time he comes to the city. This is Murray's third visit to the southern metropolis."The 2017 Fortune Global Forum has great significance as it takes place after the 19th National Congress of the Communist Party of China," he said.

A press conference for the 2017 Fortune Global Forum is held at Canton Tower on Dec 3. [Photo/ycwb.com] 

Over the past year, Guangzhou has held 13 road shows to promote the global event in cities like Beijing, Hong Kong, New York, Tokyo, Chicago and London. More than 1,700 enterprises attended the roadshows and the global event was spread to over 1 billion people by over 9,000 media outlets from both home and abroad.

Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau, Apple CEO Tim Cook, Chairman and CEO of Tencent Holdings Pony Ma, Alibaba Group Chairman Jack Ma, and Foxconn Technology Group chairman Terry Gou are among the participants expected to attend the forum, according to Murray.

The companies due to attend the 2017 Fortune Global Forum annually earn more than $9 trillion and employ 23.5 million workers.

Murray also mentioned the first-ever Fortune Brainstorm TECH International which will be held from Dec 5 to 6 in Guangzhou at the press conference. As one of the most important events held by the Fortune magazine, the conference provides valuable insights into the fast-breaking trend and the most promising start-ups of the tech world.

A special award has been set up for the conference which will be granted to the most promising startup with the potential to be an industrial leader in the future and the name of the company will be unveiled on Dec 7, according to Murray.

Great changes have been taking place in China's innovation area and we wish to draw the world's attention to China's innovation through this award, he said.