In March 2019 Patently Apple posted a report titled "Apple's CEO delivers Speech at the Economic Summit in Beijing stating that the Key to any Economy has always been Innovation." Today we're learning that the 2021 China Development Forum (CDF) will run from March 20 through to the 22nd in Beijing. The theme of the event is "China on a New Journey of Modernization." Apple's CEO Tim Cook will be one of the attendees from the U.S. It's unknown at this time if Cook will be a speaker.

This year's CDF will address key topical issues, including digital technology revolution, global technological innovation, promoting prosperity for all, carbon peak and carbon neutral, digital currency, China's economic dual circulation and new opportunities for multinational corporations, and promoting worldwide equitable access to vaccines.

One of the biggest feature of the CDF 2021 is a rich mixtures of format. 11 invitation-only sessions, 7 venues on its Economic Summit, and 40+ formal activities, in the form of plenary, closed-door roundtable, parallel sessions, and in-depth dialogue. Topics will be centered around 14th Five Year Plan, the new stage, new concepts, new patterns, China-U.S. relations, intellectual property protection, global public health, technological innovation, green transformation, rural revitalization and others. As of today, more than 130 overseas delegates have confirmed their participation to the CDF 2021, the largest number ever seen at its annual gathering.

Oliver Zipse, chairman of the board of management of BMW AG, will co-chair this year's CDF, a gathering of executives of 100-plus foreign firms including Apple CEO Tim Cook, Tesla CEO Elon Musk, HSBC Chief Executive Noel Quinn, Chuck Robbins, chairman and CEO of Cisco, Ray Dalio, founder and chairman of hedge fund Bridgewater Associates and Jakob Stausholm, CEO of Rio Tinto Group, according to a posting on the CDF's official WeChat account on Monday.

In addition to foreign business executives, an array of foreign influencers, economists and leaders of global financial institutions including former US secretary of state Henry Kissinger, former US treasury secretary Lawrence H. Summers and Ángel Gurría, secretary-general of the Organization for Economic Co-operation and Development will be among the event's attendees this year.