BOAO, Hainan, April 18 (Xinhua) -- Over 2,600 delegates, including government officials, entrepreneurs and scholars from over 60 countries and regions, have attend the 2021 Boao Forum for Asia (BFA) annual conference in person, authorities said at a press conference Sunday.

Approximately 1,200 journalists from 160 media organizations in 18 countries and regions have attended the conference, said BFA Secretary General Li Baodong at the press conference.

Asia is expected to be a major engine for global sustainable recovery in the fast-changing world, said Li, calling for joint efforts to overcome the pandemic, narrow the development deficit, increase economic integration, increase the sharing of experience to advance capacity building, and push for the building of a community with a shared future for mankind.

The BFA annual conference runs from April 18 to 21 this year in Boao, a coastal town in south China's Hainan Province.

The BFA was founded in 2001. It is a non-governmental and non-profit international organization committed to promoting regional economic integration and bringing Asian countries closer to their development goals.