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Business home and abroad geared up for CISMEF
By zhengcaixiong( (chinadaily.com.cn)
Updated: 2009-03-11 09:59

GUANGZHOU: Local and foreign businesses are gearing up for the sixth China International Small and Medium-sized Enterprises Fair (CISMEF).

And Wu Feng, deputy director of Guangdong provincial commission of econmic and trade, urged local SMEs to spare no efforts expand co-operation with their overseas conterparts to fend off the impact of the current worldwide financial crisis during the event.

"This year CISMEF will provide a good platform for domestic and overseas SMEs to expand co-operation," said Wu.

Spain has planned to form a big delegation to attend this year's event. Spanish SMEs will ocuppy a floor space of more than 10,000 square meters to display their latest products and technologies to seek Chinese buyers and expansion of co-operation with Chinese SMEs during the event.

This year's CISMEF will be held at the Guangzhou International Convention and Exhibition Center in fall.

The event is being organized by the National Development and Reform Commission, the Ministry of Finance, the Ministry of Commerce, the State Administration for Industry and Commerce, the General Administration for Quality Supervision, Inspection and Quarantine and the provincial government.

The CISMEF, which began in 2004, has also become an important channel for foreign SMEs to tap the mainland market and expand cooperation with Chinese counterparts.

More than 5,000 SMEs from a wide range of foreign countries and regions - including Thailand, South Korea, Italy, Germany, the United States, Mexico, the Hong Kong and Macao special administrative regions and Taiwan are expected to participate this year's event.

They will display their latest products, technologies, projects and inventions in more than 6,000 standard booths that have a total exhibition space of more than 120,000 sqm.

Global retail giants such as Wal-Mart and Carrefour and local retailers like Gome will also be invited to attend the event. They're expected to provide a sound platform for exhibiting SMEs to showcase their products.

Meanwhile, the organizing committee has scheduled a series of activities during the fair, including forums, lectures and seminars on marketing strategy, financing channels and the State's latest policies related to SMEs, as well as special training programs for SME executives.

The fifth session of the annual event, co-hosted by the South Korean government, saw more than 4,000 exhibitors, including over 1,000 overseas participants, last year.

SMEs contribute about 60 percent of the nation's GDP and about 50 percent of tax revenues, as well as over 75 percent of jobs and 65 percent of invention patents.