It is only 40 days away from the opening of the 6th China International SME Fair & China-Spain SME Fair (hereinafter referred to as the “6th CISMEF”), and preparations for are underway. As of August 10, the exhibition booths for nationwide exhibitors are 4505 in number, exceeding the target by 12.63%, the exhibition booth promotion scored good achievement.
 
In order to further advance the preparations for the 6th CISMEF, the Secretariat of the organizing committee of the 6th CISMEF today (September 11, 2009) holds the national contact persons meeting in Guangzhou. Zheng Xin, vice director-general of the Secretariat of the 6th CISMEF and vice director of SME Department of the Ministry of Industry and Information Technology, Wu Feng, vice director-general of Secretariat of the 6th CISMEF and vice director of Economic and Trade Commission of Guangdong Province, attended the meeting and briefed people on the latest developments on the preparations for the 6th CISMEF. At the meeting, the participants exchanged views and coordinated the relevant work.
 
[Preparations] Exhibition Booths Exceeding the Target

The State Council attaches great importance to the 6th CISMEF. The events regarding the CISMEF have been written into the “China-Spain Joint Declaration” issued by China and Spain, and the “Consensus Document of Chinese and European SME Cooperation”. It is reported that the Spanish government attaches great importance to the 6th CISMEF and has designated its Ministry of Industry, Tourism and Trade as co-sponsor of the event. Now, the Spanish side has decided the area of the exhibition, it is about the size of one exhibition hall (500 standard exhibition booths). So far, 185 enterprises and institutions have entered for the 6th CISMEF.

The exhibition booths promotion in China is also going on smoothly. As of August 10, 2009, the exhibition booths subscribed by the nationwide exhibitors number 4505, accounting for 112.63% of the total 4000 target exhibition booths. In China, 29 provinces, autonomous regions and municipalities directly under central government (including the cities directly under the state development plan, and Guangdong Province is not included) have accomplished their respective exhibition booth targets, of which 15 accomplished the exhibition booths target exceeding the quota. Guangdong Province has promoted the exhibition booths exceeding the target. By August 10, 2009, the 21 cities above the prefectural level have promoted 113% of the exhibition booths target.

The promotion of exhibition booths in the special exhibition area is also underway smoothly. Regarding the finance exhibition area, 250 exhibition booths have been subscribed by the Banking Regulatory Bureau of Guangdong Province, in which the 180 exhibition booths are for finance business and 70 for guarantee business. In terms of SME information service and modern information service industry exhibition, the number of the subscribed exhibition booths is 576, exceeding the target of 500.

[Work Arrangement] Continue to Step up the Efforts to Promote the Exhibition Booth Promotion

At present, preparations for the 6th CISMEF have entered the final stage. Zheng Xin put forward the requirements for the preparations of last stage. First, being fully aware of the important significance of the CISMEF for SME development under the current situation; Second, step up the efforts to promote the exhibition booths to ensure the complete success of the CISMEF; Third, accomplish the work of organizing the government delegation; Fourth, determine the exhibition layout and distribute the exhibition booths and improve the exhibition layout level; fifth, attach great importance to the work of security, hygiene and disease control; Fifth, strengthen the coordination with the ministries and the provinces (autonomous regions and municipalities directly under the Central Government) sponsoring the CISMEF. 

Under the ongoing financial crisis, SME development still faces a number of adverse factors. CISMEF, as the platform for SMEs to support market expansion, accelerate the industry transformation and upgrading, develop financing channel and actively tackle the financial crisis, receives the strong fiscal support from the state. The relevant personnel of the Ministry of Finance noted that the state subsidizes RMB3000.00 yuan for each exhibition booth since the 4th CISMEF. And last year, the subsidy for one exhibition booth of the exhibitors from the earthquake-hit areas increased to RMB3800.00. This year, such preferential policies will continue to be applied.

After the meeting, the participants and the Secretariat of the CISMEF exchanged views and coordinated the work of the preparations.