At the invitation of the Chinese President Hu Jintao, South Korean President Lee Myung-bak paid an official visit to China from May 27-30, 2008. Leaders of both counties jointly issued “Sino-Korea Joint Declaration” on May 28, 2008. CISMEF was officially incorporated into Part Two of the “Joint Declaration” as one of the important events of “Further expansion of commercial and trade cooperation” with the joint efforts and strong support from the sponsoring departments of the state, foreign affairs department, etc. The “Joint Declaration” points out: both sides agree to make the concerted efforts to promote the gradual balance in the development of the trade between the two countries. The Korean side will take the initiative to participate in all kinds of trade and investment fairs, particularly, China Import and Export Fair and the CISMEF and will continue to take measures to dispatch purchasing groups and investment inspection groups to China. The Chinese side expressed their appreciation to the Korean side”,

In the next step, the Secretariat of the CISMEF Organizing Committee will coordinate with the relevant departments of the country of honor to positively implement “Sino-Korea Joint Declaration” and make the joint efforts to bring the 5th China International Small and Medium Enterprises Fair & Sino-Korea Small and Medium Enterprises Fair into a pragmatic and fruitful fair so as to make greater contribution to the economic and trade cooperation between China and the Republic of Korea.

Drafted by Overseas Foreign Affairs Group

Time: June 2008