On April 16, 2011, Chinese Foreign Minister Yang Jiechi met with Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) Secretary General Surin Pitsuwan in Boao, Hainan Province on the sidelines of the Boao Forum for Asia (BFA) Annual Conference 2011. Yang said this year marks an important milestone in China-ASEAN relations as it coincides with the 20th anniversary of the establishment of China-ASEAN dialogue relationship. Yang proposed both sides make the series of celebration events a success, promote pragmatic cooperation, carry out the cooperation initiatives made by leaders and keep the good momentum of all-round growth of China-ASEAN strategic partnership. Yang said a majority of ASEAN countries were founding members of the BFA, played an active role in the forum and offered support to the growth of the forum. As the host country, China supported the cooperation between the BFA and ASEAN nations and would like to facilitate ASEAN nations' participation in the forum so as to help BFA contribute more to boosting Asian common prosperity, Yang said.
Surin Pitsuwan said ASEAN would take the 20th anniversary of the establishment of bilateral dialogue as an opportunity, deepen and explore mutually beneficial cooperation for the benefit of all sides.
On April 15, Yang also met respectively with Yasuo Fukuda, chairman of BFA board of directors and Japan's former prime minister, Jean-Pierre Raffarin, BFA board member and former French Prime Minister, and Henry Paulson, BFA board member and former U.S. Treasury Secretary, who were here in Boao for the Boao Forum for Asia (BFA) Annual Conference 2011. Yang exchanged views with them on bilateral relations and international and regional issues of common concern.