HIS Majesty the Sultan and Yang Di-Pertuan of Brunei Darussalam will make a State Visit to the People’s Republic of China in the first week of April at the invitation of Chinese President Xi Jinping, China’s Foreign Ministry spokesperson Hong Lei announced.

His Majesty will also attend the Boao Forum for Asia Annual Conference 2013 in Boao, Hainan, where President Xi Jinping will deliver a keynote speech, the Chinese Foreign Ministry web site stated.

The forum will be held from April 6-8.

Foreign leaders apart from His Majesty and heads of international organisation that will come to China to attend the annual conference include President Nursultan Nazarbayev of Kazakhstan, President U Thein Sein of Myanmar, President Ollanta Humala of Peru, President Michael Sata of Zambia, President Sauli Niinisto of Finland, President Peña Nieto of Mexico, Prime Minister Hun Sen of Cambodia, Prime Minister John Key of New Zealand, Prime Minister Julia Gillard of Australia, Speaker Abdelkader Bensalah of the Algerian Council of Nation, Chairman Zandaakhuu Enkhbold of the State Great Khural of Mongolia and President Vuk Jeremic of the 67th Session of the UN General Assembly.

As a non-government, non-profit international organisation, Boao Forum For Asia (BFA) is one of the most prestigious and premier forums for leaders in government, business and academia in Asia and other continents to share visions on the most pressing issues in this dynamic region and the world at large. The forum is committed to promoting regional economic integration and bringing Asian countries even closer to their development goals.

Initiated in 1998 by Fidel V Ramos, former President of the Philippines; Bob Hawke, former Prime Minister of Australia; and Morihiro Hosokawa, former Prime Minister of Japan, Boao Forum for Asia was formally inaugurated in February 2001. Countries across the region have responded with strong support and great enthusiasm, and the world has listened attentively to the voice coming from a tiny, quiet and scenic island at the southernmost part of China – Boao, the permanent site of the annual conference of the forum since 2002. - Borneo Bulletin (27 March 2013)