Enterprise fair to highlight international cooperation

Event seeks to boost development of small and medium-sized business ventures

The upcoming 18th China International Small and Medium Enterprises Fair will further focus on the actual needs and difficulties of SMEs, and launch a national campaign to help them promote digital transformation, brand value and the commercialization of sci-tech achievements, officials said.

Supporting the development of small and medium-sized enterprises has become the consensus of various countries, said an official of the Ministry of Industry and Information Technology.

With the number accounting for more than 90 percent of the world's total, SMEs are "an important force in facilitating world economic recovery, and play an irreplaceable role in increasing employment, catalyzing economic growth, promoting sci-tech innovation, and boosting social development", the official added.

The 18th session of the CISMEF and the second SME International Cooperation Summit are set to be held in Guangzhou, South China's Guangdong province, from June 26 to 30, during which a series of policies will be interpreted, a batch of reports released, and a group of business contracts signed.

The fair's opening ceremony will be held on June 27, the same day as the Micro, Small, and Medium-sized Enterprises Day. The United Nations General Assembly designated June 27 as "Micro, Small, and Medium-sized Enterprises Day" to raise awareness of MSMEs' contributions to the achievement of the United Nations Sustainable Development Goals.

In addition to the opening ceremony, the fair will also include a themed forum, a parallel forum, six subforums and an exhibition.

The themed forum aims to increase the confidence of SMEs and private businesses in future development. The parallel forum plans to build a platform for foreign exchanges and cooperation to cultivate high-quality SMEs, publicize China's determination for implementing high-level opening-up, and promote its experience and practices in optimizing the business environment for SMEs.

The subforums will highlight such aspects as industrial chain cooperation, industrial clusters, digital transformation, investment and financing, sustainable development, and business secrets protection. They will also release the latest industrial trends and share their experience via case studies.

As for the exhibition, a key part of the fair, it will be held at the China Import and Export Fair Complex, covering a total area of 80,000 square meters and setting up 3,200 booths, including 2,500 booths for some 1,600 domestic exhibitors.

About 300 overseas exhibitors from 40 countries, regions and international organizations have signed up for the fair so far. They will occupy 15,000 sq m of exhibition areas, which is 50 percent larger than the last session, to showcase products and technologies in intelligent manufacturing, food, consumer goods, clothing, and crafts and gifts.

As a co-host, the Ministry of Industry and Trade of Vietnam will organize a business delegation with more than 200 people to participate in the exhibition.

They will have 120 booths and display featured products in fields including agriculture, fishery and food processing, fashion, tourism and investment promotion, household goods, furniture and fine art gifts.

Vietnam's national pavilion, covering a total area of 3,000 sq m, will promote the country's image, culture, tourism, and economic and trade investment potential.

The exhibition consists of a themed zone and a professional zone. The themed zone will include exhibition areas designed for the Chinese SMEs from various provinces and municipalities. They are divided into five industrial sectors of equipment manufacturing, electronic information, new materials and new energy, medicine and medical devices, and food and agricultural products.

The professional exhibition will cover sectors of industrial internet, integration and innovation, future industries and time-honored companies.

The future industry exhibition, for example, will build a platform to exchange information and facilitate product trade and project cooperation in sectors like artificial intelligence, new-generation information technology, intelligent home appliances and ultra-high-definition videos, new energy storage and new materials.

The fair, launched in 2004, has grown into an international event in the sector with the highest level, largest scale and most wide-ranging influence in the Asia-Pacific region.

With efforts made over the past 17 sessions, the fair as a non-profit exhibition has become an important bridge for overseas SMEs to enter China and for Chinese SMEs to explore the global market. It has helped to increase understanding, strengthen cooperation, expand exchanges and seek common development for China's SMEs and their foreign counterparts.

It has also enjoyed the support of many countries. Since 2005, the fair has been co-hosted with 17 countries including France, Italy, Japan, South Korea, Spain, Australia, and two international organizations.

This year, it will be co-hosted by the Vietnam Trade Promotion Agency and the United Nations Industrial Development Organization.

Vietnam and China have been important bilateral trade partners that maintain a long-standing cooperative relationship.

Official statistics showed that in the first five months of this year, Vietnam's export turnover to China reached $19.8 billion, and its imports from China reached $42.4 billion.

Since 2021, the SME International Cooperation Summit has been held simultaneously with the fair. This year will be the second session of the summit.

The two events will organize a series of activities such as intellectual property rights protection and high-quality development of SMEs; sci-tech achievements to empower SMEs; cross-border matchmaking; and business matchmaking for Chinese and African SMEs in manufacturing.

At the end of 2022, China was home to 52 million micro, small and medium-sized enterprises, a 51 percent increase from that of 2018.

haonan@chinadaily.com.cn