The Fortune Global Forum 2013, a conference for world leaders and top business leaders, will be held in Chengdu, capital of Sichuan Province, in June next year.

With the theme of "China's New Future," the conference will take a close look at the evolution of China's economy and its emerging role in the global context as well as discussing the China century. Participants will also discuss resource solutions, innovation and technology, global finance and the global economic recovery.

To run from June 6 to 8, 2013, the forum will be the fourth time it is held in China, but it is the first time it will take place in China's western region, whose development will be one of the focal points of the forum, initiated in 1995 by Fortune magazine. Shanghai, Hong Kong and Beijing held the annual gathering previously in 1999, 2001 and 2005 respectively.

"At a time when China is at the forefront of global business, Chengdu is the ideal venue for the next Fortune Global Forum," Andy Serwer, managing editor of Fortune magazine, said at a press conference in Beijing yesterday.

The city is in the heart of China's booming west and is becoming a leading center for higher education, a diverse range of technologies and industries, logistics and services to attract global companies, Serwer said.

He described the city as a dynamic magnet for multinational companies. Up to 212 Fortune 500 companies have set up their operations in Chengdu, and 13 foreign banks have also opened branches there, the most among China's central and western cities.

Ge Honglin, mayor of Chengdu, said forum participants will see how a Chinese inland city coped with the world's financial turmoil and accelerated its economic transformation.

"It will be an opportunity for the world to better understand Chengdu, and Chengdu to further integrate with the world," Ge said.

Chengdu has been named by the Ministry of Science and Technology in a pilot program which seeks to build up an innovative city - the only one in the western region. By the end of last year, Chengdu had successfully applied for 250 state-level science and technology projects to enhance its research and development of automotive spare parts, photovoltaic solar power, bio-pharmaceutical materials and medical instruments.

Chengdu's gross domestic product grew an impressive 15.2 percent last year, above the nation's 9.2 percent increase.

In 2010, Forbes magazine named Chengdu as one of the world's fastest-growing cities in the next decade.

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