The event, which will be held in late November or early December of next year, marks the fifth Fortune Global Forum held in China, presenting a chance for chiefs of the world’s largest companies—the Fortune Global 500—to actively engage with world leaders on the forefront of international commerce.

Fortune cited several reasons for its selection of Guangzhou as next year’s host city, noting its role as the capital of Guangdong—a historically vibrant hub for free trade and innovation investment, and China’s most populous province—as well as its strategic importance to many Fortune Global 500 companies, more than half of which have already made investments or set up operations in Guangzhou.

“Guangzhou, China’s Southern gateway to the world, is the ideal location for the 2017 Fortune Global Forum. As a center of international trade for many centuries, Guangzhou is both a renowned symbol and a modern manifestation of China’s participation in global commerce,” Murray said.

“At a time when globalization is under attack, we believe the Guangzhou forum will be a powerful demonstration of the importance of global commerce and the profound change that technology is bringing to global business,” he added.

See also: Fortune/Time Global Forum 2016 to Take Place in the Vatican

Cai Chaolin, vice mayor of the People’s Government of Guangzhou Municipality, said officials “will work closely with Fortune to make the Fortune Global Forum 2017 a perfect platform for brainstorming ideas and for developing mutually beneficial partnerships and cooperation.”

“Choosing our city to host the 2017 Fortune Global Forum is a recognition of Guangzhou’s distinctive progress and promise as a hub of globalization and international exchanges,” said Cai.

Guangzhou has pledged in the city’s five-year development plan to establish hubs for international shipping, international aviation, international science, and technology innovation by 2020.

Since 1995, the Fortune Global Forum has connected CEOs of the world’s most important multinational companies with world leaders, including former Chinese Presidents Jiang Zemin and Hu Jintao, former U.S. Presidents Bill Clinton and George H.W. Bush, and company chairmen Jamie Dimon of J.P. Morgan Chase, Ginni Rometty of IBM, Robert Iger of The Walt Disney Company, Ma Yun of Alibaba, and Robin Li of Baidu.

At the 2013 Fortune Global Forum, hosted in Chengdu, the government announced that the city had signed 74 investment projects with Fortune Global 500 companies from both China and around the world during the event, reaching an investment of 112 billion yuan (US $18.3 billion). President Xi Jinping called the gathering “one of the most influential forums on economic development in the world.”