Former Philippine president Gloria Arroyo said she was eager to hear "every word" of the speech to be delivered by President Xi Jinping on Tuesday at the opening of the Boao Forum for Asia Annual Conference, due to the importance of China's leadership in the regional and world economies.

"I am looking forward to every word President Xi has to say," Arroyo said during an interview prior to the keynote speech.

"He is a very important person in a very important country. We look forward to the continuing leadership of China in the regional economy and even the world economy."

About 2,000 global political, business and media leaders are attending the annual event in Boao, Hainan province.

Serving as president of the Philippines from 2001-10, Arroyo was elected to the forum's board of directors Monday. Ban Ki-moon, former secretary general of the United Nations, was elected chairman.

In remarks made to China Daily, Arroyo said the relationship between China and her country has developed closely due to efforts by her predecessor Fidel Ramos and current president Rodrigo Duterte, who will be joining a group of state leaders at the forum Tuesday.

She said previous decades have seen China's rapid economic and social transformation, and China and the Philippines have developed a very friendly relationship.

She added that the Philippines has benefited very much from China's opening up to the outside world, and the two economies are complementary to each other.

Arroyo said China's success in past decades has been due to its market-oriented reform and she believes China, under President Xi's leadership in the new era, will continue that direction.

"That has really prepared China over the last 40 years to become an economic giant it is today," Arroyo said. "In the new era as an economic giant, China will be playing an extremely important role in the world economy and on the global stage."