File photo/VCG

The annual Boao Forum for Asia (BFA) in 2018 is scheduled to take place from April 8 to 11 in Boao, South China's Hainan Province, with the theme of "open and innovative Asia, prosperous and developed world," Zhou Wenzhong, secretary-general of the BFA, told a press briefing on Thursday in Beijing.

State leaders will attend the forum and deliver speeches. 

Other participants will include business representatives from domestic and foreign firms such as Cosco Shipping, Pepsi, China Railway Construction Corporation and China National Petroleum Corporation, as well as foreign leaders and scholars, Zhou said.