The 3rd China International Small and Medium Enterprises Fair and the Sino-Italian Small and Medium Enterprises Fair, running from September 15 to 18, will form a unique business gala, thanks to the fairs' reputations and the efforts of the organizing committee to secure exhibitors and visitors.

To be held at the Guangzhou International Expo Centre, also known as the Chinese Export Commodity Fair's Pazhou complex, the fair will have 5,000 exhibition booths, 1,000 of which have been booked by overseas exhibitors including 600 by Italian exhibitors, with the remaining booths being booked by domestic exhibitors, according to Liu Xiaojie, vice-director of the Guangdong Provincial Economy and Trade Commission.

More than 200,000 visitors are expected to be present during the upcoming events.

As a co-sponsor of the events, the Italian Government will organize a delegation of about 1,500 people including government officials and businesspeople to the fairs, Liu added.

"With so many international exhibitors present, the events will be international ones in the real sense," he noted.

He said the organizing committee of the fairs had focused on developing the events into a good platform for medium- and long-term development of small and medium enterprises (SMEs), rather than a mere trading place for exhibitors.

And the organizing committee has relied heavily on professional firms and agencies, including industrial associations, to invite both exhibitors and visitors to the upcoming session of events, paving the way for a more market-oriented approach.

He said the Ministry of Commerce had also helped invite many exhibitors and visitors from abroad and had launched promotional campaigns worldwide.

He listed the key target as several European countries, the United States, Canada, Southeast Asian countries, Australia, New Zealand, as well as China's Hong Kong and Macao special administrative regions.

Liu said the organizing committee had attached great importance to inviting global procurers to diversify marketing channels for the exhibiting SMEs.

World famous retailers such as US-based Wal-Mart, France-based Carrefour, as well as German-based Metro, and domestic retail giants including Vanguard and A. Best will talk face-to-face with SMEs about purchasing opportunities.

He said the central and local governments had also attached importance to the upcoming events and all the ministry-level organizers of the events had put the events on top of their agenda.

The National Development and Reform Commission, the Ministry of Finance, the Ministry of Commerce, the State Administration of Industry and Commerce, the China Banking Regulatory Commission, Guangdong provincial government, the Italian Presidency of the Council of Ministers, the Italian Ministry of Foreign Affairs, the Italian Ministry of International Trade and the Italian Ministry for the Environment and Territory are jointly organizing the fairs.

A total of 3,520 exhibitors and 198,000 visitors from home and abroad attended the second session of the fairs, known as the second China Small and Medium Enterprises Fair and the Sino-French Small and Medium Enterprises Fair, in 2005.

Deals worth 42.6 billion yuan (US$5.25 billion) were clinched at the second session of the fairs, compared with deals worth 32 billion yuan (US$3.95 billion) in the first session two years ago.

Editor: Yan