The 2012 Education Forum for Asia Annual Conference will be held September 22-24, 2012 in Chengdu, China with support from the Chinese Ministry of Education, Boao Forum for Asia, UNESCO, and Sichuan Provincial People's Government. This year's theme at the Education Forum's annual meeting is: "Towards a healthier and better tomorrow."

Also, the 13th Western China International Fair will be held in conjunction with Western China Economy and Trade Fair.The 13th Western China International Economic & Trade will be co-sponsored by the National Development and Reform Commission, Ministry of Commerce, Science and Technology Ministry and other ministries. It is also supported by, hongqing, Sichuan, and Guizhou Provinces, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, and the Sichuan Provincial People's Government contractors. The Western China International Economic & Trade Fair, since its inception, has had Chinese national leaders Wen Jiabao, Li Keqiang, Wang Qishan, and 20 foreign dignitaries attending the forum with the goal of strengthening the pan-Asian and western China economies and to deepen cooperation and common development with keynote speeches and proposed ideas and recommendations.

With the progress of the National Strategy for Western Development and the continuing progress of Chengdu's economy, more and more national ambassadors' offices, top 500 multinational companies, foreign funded enterprises and financial organizations are beginning to take root in Chengdu. More relationships between internationally friendly cities are being established, thus transforming Chengdu into an internationally renowned city. Chengdu Municipal Government has recently put forward a strategy to carry out education internationalization in order to make Chengdu's education more internationally open, to effectively arrange and employ global education resources, to improve the level of international communication and cooperation in Chengdu's education system, and to make local education better suited to the needs of Chengdu's economic and social development. Under this strategy to build a modern idyllic city, our goal is to develop a world class education system within Chengdu.

Our main focus is on Western China's international education cooperation and for sustainable development in Chengdu. State leaders from Asian and European countries, former politicians as well as Ministers of Education will attend the annual meeting and give lectures on a variety of issues. Also,ambassadors from more than 40 countries, international organizations, multinational corporations, educational institutions, and media representatives will be attending the annual meeting to discuss Asian basic education, vocational education, higher education, teacher education, regional flow of teachers and students, and Asian student scholarships. The 7th Asian Student Photography Exhibition, with the theme of: "Pleasure and Prettiness, Record Life with a Young Heart", will be held simultaneously.

Welcome to beautiful Chengdu! Let us work together to promote educational exchange and development in Asia. Together we can build bridges of cooperation for a brighter education future in Asia.

For more conference information, please visit the Asia Education Forum's official website: (www.asia-edu.org) and the Asian Students Photography Exhibition: (www.asia-photo.org) or Contact the Forum Organizing Committee at +8610-59706618.