BEIJING, April 17 (Xinhua) -- A number of foreign leaders will travel to South China's Hainan Province to attend the annual Boao Forum for Asia (BFA) which this year is titled "New Opportunities of Asia: Driving Growth to the Next Level".

    President of Micronesia Joseph J. Urusemal, Prime Minister of Sri Lanka Ratnasiri Wickramanayake, and Vice President of Indonesia Yusuf Kalla will attend the forum and pay unofficial visits to China before or after the event, said Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesman Qin Gang on Monday.

    Chinese Vice President Zeng Qinghong and Slovenian President Janez Drnovsek will also attend the forum, according to Qin.

    The BFA Annual Conference 2006 will be held between April 21 and 23 in the scenic coastal town of Boao, Hainan.

    The BFA was first proposed by former Prime Minister of Australia Robert James Lee Hawke, former President of the Philippines Fidel Ramos, and former Prime Minister of Japan Hosokawa Morihiro in 1998.

    The forum was officially established in February 2001, with the Declaration on the BFA signed by delegates from 26 founding members. The first annual BFA conference was held in April 2002. Enditem