On May 26, 2018, the annual conference of Shanghai Forum 2018 was grandly held at Shanghai International Convention Center. The theme this year is “Asia’s Responsibilities in a World of Change”. Xu Tao, director of Department of International Cooperation and Exchanges of Ministry of Education of the People’s Republic of China, Xu Ningsheng, President of Fudan University, Chey Tae-won, chairman and CEO of SK Holdings, and Park In-kook, President of Korea Foundation for Advanced Studies, attended and addressed the meeting respectively. The opening ceremony was hosted by Jiao Yang, chairperson of the Fudan University Council. More than 500 guests and representatives from think tanks, universities, governments, enterprises, media etc. all over the world came to attend the forum.

After the opening ceremony, Shamshad Akhtar, Under-Secretary-General of the United Nations and executive secretary of UNESCAP, Takeo Kawamura, chairman of Standing Committee on Budget Member, the House of Representatives, Japan, Luiz Carlos Bresser-Pereira, former minister, Ministry of Finance, Brazil, Graham Tillett Allison, Jr., founding dean of the John F. Kennedy School of Government at Harvard University, and Wang Xinkui, president of Shanghai WTO Affairs Consultation Center and former chairman of the CPPCC of Shanghai, delivered keynote speeches respectively. Based on the theme of the forum, the guests performed different interpretations and won rounds of applause. Park In-kook hosted the speech.

Jiao Yang, chairperson of the Fudan University Council

Xu Tao, director of Department of International Cooperation

and Exchanges of Ministry of Education of the People’s Republic of China

Xu Ningsheng, President of Fudan University

Chey Tae-won, chairman and CEO of SK Holdings

Park In-kook, President of Korea Foundation for Advanced Studies

Shamshad Akhtar, Under-Secretary-General of the United Nations and executive secretary of UNESCAP

Takeo Kawamura, chairman of Standing Committee on Budget Member, the House of Representatives, Japan

Graham Tillett Allison, Jr., founding dean of the John F. Kennedy School of Government at Harvard University

Luiz Carlos Bresser-Pereira, former minister, Ministry of Finance, Brazil

Wang Xinkui, president of Shanghai WTO Affairs Consultation Center and former chairman of the CPPCC of Shanghai

Shanghai Forum 2018 will be held from May 26th to 28th. The forum has six panels, including “Global Governance”, “Environmental Governance”, “Public Security”, “Social Governance”, “Scientific and Technological Innovation” and “Culture and Civilization”, together with 13 round-table conferences and 14 sub-forums. The forum touches upon issues of common concern in Asia and even the world, such as major-country relationship, the Belt and Road Initiative, artificial intelligence, green governance, green financial innovation, measures to aging and polar governance and exploration. Delegates will start from their own research fields with a professional point of view to exchange their thoughts and discuss the issues listed above in depth and with ardor. They strive to find a new mission for Asia in the new political and economic pattern of the world, epitomizing the efforts from the political, commercial and academic world comprehensively.

This year, Shanghai Forum continues to work hard to build a global think tank convergence platform. Under the mechanism of opening round-table conferences and sub-forums to the world, the forum has received applications from over 70 universities, think tanks, enterprises, and media from 28 countries and regions. Countries along the Belt and Road, such as India, Israel, Hungary, Estonia, Latvia, Turkey have joined in. What is more remarkable, many universities and think-tank institutions have applied for and participated in holding the forum, including University of Alberta in Canada, Nordic Institute of Asian Studies at University of Copenhagen, University of Duisburg in Germany, World-Wide Fund for Nature, European Policy Centre, Institute for Security and Development Policy, Institute of International Relations of Latvia, and Institute of Far Eastern Studies of the Russian Academy of Sciences. They all contribute to making the internationalized and diversified Shanghai Forum a platform for the exchange and collision of thoughts and ideas between international think tanks and intellectuals. 

Shanghai Forum is an international large-scale academic forum sponsored by Fudan University, Korea Foundation for Advanced Education and Fudan Development Institute. It aims to build a platform for communication between Chinese and foreign intellectuals from political, commercial and academic fields, to offer suggestions for regional development and national plans. Since 2005 when Shanghai was founded, almost 4,000 guest speakers at home and abroad have attended the forum. The forum always persists in innovation as a pioneer in order to promote human progress, national development and people's livelihood. It has gradually become a well-known forum brand at home and abroad, which helps to connect global intelligence and to advance the building of the “Four Brands” of Shanghai.

With profound changes in the world economic and political patterns and the balance of international power, to promote a reform of the global governance system has become a top priority. The Organizing Committee of the forum decide to change the 12-year theme “Economic Globalization and the Choice of Asia” to “Global Governance and Asia” from this year, in expectation that Asia will provide more resources and intelligence in a grander pattern of global governance.