Davos, Switzerland, an alpine town and a winter sports resort, has become famous for hosting the World Economic Forum (WEF) annual meetings each winter for the past 36 years.

Dalian, China, a northeastern port city, is mostly known as a romantic coastal city for its beautiful scenery and clean environment.

This year, the two places, both beginning with "Da" coincidently, were connected by the WEF.

The WEF, in close partnership with the Chinese Government represented by the National Development and Reform Commission, recently hosted its first Inaugural Annual Meeting of the New Champions, dubbed as the "summer Davos," in Dalian on September 6-8.

This is the first time that a WEF annual meeting has been held outside Davos. North China's coastal city of Tianjin, around 100 km from Beijing, has been chosen to convene the second Inaugural Annual Meeting of the New Champions on September 25-27, 2008. Another pair of Chinese cities will be selected after 2008 to host the event for the following two years.

Differing from the annual meetings at Davos which focuses on the world's foremost companies and macroeconomic and social issues, the "summer Davos" moves a step forward to look at emerging multinational companies, or the new champions.

"The purpose is to integrate newcomers to these global dialogues, and to make them more aware of global opportunities and risks," said Klaus Schwab, Founder and Executive Chairman of the WEF.

According the WEF website, participants in the WEF's Annual Meeting at Davos in January 2007 recognized that a new class of leaders and innovators--the new champions--have emerged and that they are reshaping business and transforming society.

"China has been one of the world's fastest growing economies for two decades," said Klaus Schwab. "Many of the new champions are coming from Asia, so Dalian will be a second pillar in the East to complement Davos in the West."

China's connection with the WEF can be traced to 1979, when Schwab invited senior Chinese officials and entrepreneurs to participate in the forum.

In the last three years, late Vice Premier Huang Ju, incumbent Vice Premier Zeng Peiyan and State Councilor Hua Jianmin have participated in the annual meetings at Davos.

Since 1981, the WEF has cooperated with the China Enterprise Confederation to hold the China Business Summit annually. So far, 26 sessions of the China Business Summit had been held.

The idea of holding a "summer Davos" was initiated by Schwab in 2005.

In June 2006, the WEF Beijing Representative Office was established to handle host bids from more than 10 Chinese cities, with Dalian eventually winning the bid to host this year's meeting.

The Dalian 2007 meeting attracted more than 1,700 participants including government officials, scholars and business leaders from 90 countries and regions. Chinese Premier Wen Jiabao delivered a keynote speech at the forum.

Among the WEF members, there are 29 Chinese companies, including seven from Hong Kong and four from Taiwan.