Chinese Premier Wen Jiabao will attend the 2009 meeting of the Bo'ao Forum for Asia (BFA) from April 17 to 19 in south China's Hainan Province, according to a press release from the Foreign Ministry on Thursday.

Wen is expected to deliver a key-note speech during the meeting.

Foreign leaders whose participation has been confirmed include: Pakistani President Asif Ali Zardari, Kazakhstan's President Nursultan Nazarbayev, Togolese President Faure Essozimna Gnassingbe, Mongolian Prime Minister Sanj Bayar, Myanmar Prime Minister Thein Sein, Vietnamese Prime Minister Nguyen Tan Dung, Finnish Prime Minister Matti Vanhanen, Albanian Prime Minister Sali Berisha, New Zealand Prime Minister John Key and the Prime Minister of Papua New Guinea, Michael Thomas Somare.

Under the theme "Asia: Managing Beyond Crisis", the participants will discuss how to cope with the international financial crisis.

The BFA, established in 2001, is a high-level forum where government, business and scholars promote regional economic integration and bring Asian countries closer to their development goals.

(Xinhua News Agency March 12, 2009)