The World Economic Forum (WEF) announced on Friday that it will host its first World Economic Forum on Growth in the Chinese northeastern coastal city of Dalian next September.

The forum aims bring together emerging companies from around the world, quite different from its more established sister event, the WEF meeting of world leaders held annually in Davos, Switzerland.

The first World Economic Forum on Growth will also be the inaugural Annual Meeting of Global Growth Companies.

Growth and competitiveness are to be the themes of the annual meeting, said André Schneider, managing director of the WEF.

China's astonishing economic growth and the emergence of many new companies were the major reasons the WEF decided on China as a venue.

The WEF set up the headquarters of the Community of Global Growth Companies (CGGC) in Beijing as well as its first overseas representative office this year.

The CGGC aims to enable emerging multinationals to develop into the next generation of international corporate leaders.

Membership requirements include an annual growth of over 15 percent over the preceding two years, minimum revenues of between US$200 million and US$2 billion according to industry and region, and multinational operations.

More than 300 CGGC companies are expected to attend the inaugural annual meeting scheduled for September 6 to 8.

The WEF is already working with the authorities of another Chinese city, Tianjin, on the possibility of hosting the meeting in 2008.

The WEF was founded in 1971 in Geneva with an overall commitment to improve the state of the world. The annual Davos meeting is a platform for business and political leaders from around the world to discuss global economic issues.

(Xinhua News Agency September 30, 2006)