On December 16, 2016, the first Preparatory Meeting and Signing Ceremony of Shanghai Forum 2016 was held at Fudan University. Jiao Yang, Chairman of the University Council, welcomed Park In-kook, President of Korea Foundation for Advanced Studies, and showed significant gratitude for the long-term support of Korea Foundation for Advanced Studies to Shanghai Forum and Fudan University. She said, the development of Shanghai Forum is combined with the spirit of Shanghai, which unites global wisdom and consistently pursues excellence with an open and inclusive mind.

During the meeting, President Xu Ningsheng and President Park In-kook signed and exchanged the Cooperation Agreement of Holding Shanghai Forum 2017. Liu Chenggong, Vice President of Fudan University, made a summary speech. The Organizing Committee of the Shanghai forum, the Secretariat, and roundtable/ sub-forum chairs and representatives, as well as the responsible comrades of the relevant departments of the school attended the meeting.

President Park In-kook conveyed approval of the preparation work and spoke highly of the work with regard to the structure of organization, selections of topics, the invitation of guests and the international strategies.

Co-hosted by Fudan University and Korea Foundation for Advanced Studies, undertaken by Fudan Development Institute (FDDI), Shanghai Forum endeavors to build an interactive platform for multi-sided communication amongst academic, political, commercial, and press circles through which significant problems both in Asia and the world will be discussed comprehensively and profoundly.

On the basis of consensus, Shanghai Forum 2017 is to be held on May 27-29 and the theme of Shanghai Forum 2017 is "Economic Globalization and the Choice of Asia— ASIA AND THE WORLD: NEW IMPETUS, NEW STRUCTURE AND NEW ORDER”. The forum is to design four panels to promote interdisciplinary discussion, including “Global Governance”, “China and the World”, “Digital Governance”, and “Environment Governance”. The topic will focus on international and domestic hot issues, such as great power relations, financial innovation, China's reform of the supply front, the Road and Belt Initiative, 16+1 cooperation in central and Eastern Europe, network safety, energy network,
environmental protection, etc.

Shanghai Forum 2017 will make more new attempts based on previous experiences. In 2016 the forum opened the application of sub-forums and roundtables to the world for the first time. This year, the forum will continue to hold overseas sub-forums and roundtables to strengthen the global impact of Shanghai Forum. This year, the speaker will come from more diverse backgrounds. The forum intends to invite speakers from countries of ‘One belt, one road’ , the Central and Eastern Europe and ASEAN countries such as Turkey, India, Israel, Kyrgyzstan, Estonia, Latvia, Hungary, Thailand, Singapore and. The new forum will continue to open application for sub-forums and roundtables. At present, nearly 70 quality applications have been received from universities, think tanks and enterprises of 19 countries. The forum will explore innovative ways to become more international and diverse.