A small- and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) fair, slated for Oct. 18 to 22 in Guangzhou, will provide a platform for Chinese SMEs to enter the international market, a local official said in Beijing Thursday.

Preparation for the SME Fair, the first of its kind in China, is well underway, Vice Governor of Guangdong Province You Ningfeng said at a press conference in the Great Hall of the People in Beijing.

You said business organizations from the United States, Japan, Britain, Malaysia, Hong Kong and Macao have made active responses to invitations to the fair. Carrefour and a number of other international retail chain companies have already confirmed their participation.

Guangzhou, the capital of Guangdong, is the birthplace of private businesses in the southern coast of China.

You said the fair will be staged at the same time as two other large-scale export commodity fairs in Guangzhou and Shenzhen, which will draw a large number of guests from overseas. The hosts will attract more foreign visitors to the SME Fair to provide a platform for SMEs to have direct contact with foreign clients.

Besides a product show, the SME Fair will also conduct such activities as information exchange, trade talks and technological cooperation. The non-profitable fair will include a China SME summit with the theme of "21st century -- the century of SME," a SME financing forum and training sessions for SMEs, You said.

More than 1,200 SMEs, universities, scientific and research institutes, investment and financial institutions and intermediate agencies from all over the country have enrolled for the fair, which will be hosted in seven major exhibition areas according to industrial trade. International enterprises and companies to be invited.

The fair is sponsored jointly by the State Development and Reform Commission of China, the State Administration for Industry and Commerce and the government of Guangdong province.

(Xinhua News Agency September 10, 2004)