The second China Small and Medium Enterprise Fair (CSMEF) and Sino-French Small and Medium Enterprises Fair will run in Guangzhou, south China's Guangdong Province, on September 12 to 15, the organizing committee announced on Friday.

The successful showing at the first CSMEF in October last year attracted the French Ministry of Economy, Finance and Industry to sponsor this year's CSMEF.

The central government of China has chosen Guangzhou to be the permanent home of CSMEF, said Liu Xiaojie, deputy director of the Economic and Trade Commission of Guangdong Province.

China's Ministry of Commerce and Ministry of Finance are both involved in the fair, making the event Guangzhou's second permanent ministry-level fair, after the Chinese Exports Commodities Fair.

Liu said the second CSMEF would have over 6,000 stands, 300 of which will represent French small and medium enterprises (SMEs).

The fair is expected to cover 130,000 square meters, more than three times the size of last year's 40,000 square meters.

There are more than 3.6 million registered SMEs in China, plus over 27.9 million self-employed business people.

(China Daily May 1, 2005)