By Xinhua,
Rio de Janeiro : Over 100,000 people from 150 countries have gathered at the ninth session of the World Social Forum (WSF) being held in Belem, Para state, in Brazil’s Amazon rainforest region.
The forum, which will be on till Feb 1, is an annual meeting to discuss the world’s social and political order.
Candido Grzybowski, general director of the Brazilian Institute of Social and Economic Analysis (Ibase), said the forum aims to promote prosperity and reconstruction of the world’s development model, which is an especially pressing matter in view of the current international financial crisis.
On Thursday, Brazilian President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva as well as the presidents of Bolivia, Venezuela, Ecuador and Paraguay will participate in a debate on the effects of the financial crisis in Latin America.
It is the fifth time the forum is being held in Brazil.
More than 100,000 people and a total of 5,860 organisations from 150 countries are participating in this year’s forum.