The China International Small and Medium Enterprises Fair (CISMEF), which annually takes place in Guangzhou, capital of Guangdong Province, is playing an increasingly important role in the country's development of small and medium enterprises (SMEs).

And this year's CISMEF is expected to attract an increasing number of foreign participants.

Chinese Premier Wen Jiabao has called for CISMEF to be built into an effective international platform for SMEs' development and Sino-foreign co-operation in the following years.

More than 74.6 billion yuan (US$9.33 billion) worth of contracts were signed at the previous two fairs, which attracted more than 316,000 businesses from around the world.

The previous two events took place in 2004 and 2005 respectively.

The third CISMEF opens at Guangzhou Pazhou International Exhibition and Convention Centre today and will end next Monday.

Covering an area of more than 120,000 square metres, the fair will include more than 5,000 standard booths, including at least 1,000 booths for overseas companies.

And the overseas SMEs have mainly come from the United States, Canada, Europe, Japan, Southeast Asian countries, the Republic of Korea, as well as China's Taiwan Province, Hong Kong and Macao special administrative regions.

The overseas participants will gather at the Italian Exhibition Zone, International Exhibition Zone, and Hong Kong, Macao and Taiwan Exhibition Zone.

The Italian Exhibiting Zone will have more than 800 standard booths for SMEs from the European countries.

During the third CISMEF event, the Sino-Italian Small and Medium Enterprises Fair will also kick off at the Pazhou International Exhibition and Convention Centre.

Senior Chinese officials from the central government and the Italian prime minister will cut the ribbon to officially inaugurate the fair.

"Many foreign SMEs have chosen the vast Chinese mainland market as their major destination for future expansion," said Lin Ying, secretary-general of CISMEF.

Lin is also the deputy secretary-general of Guangdong provincial government.

United States, Germany and France have formed big trade delegations to attend the fair, seeking expansion with their Chinese partners in a wide range of industries including energy, machinery, textiles, cosmetics, toys, printing, food processing, electronics, household appliances and metals.

In addition to increasing their presence in the vast Chinese mainland market, they will also seek co-operation with their Chinese counterparts in technological exchanges, personnel training and trade expansion during the four-day event.

Special seminars and lectures will also be organized during the fair to help boost Sino-foreign co-operation.

Lin said the Chinese Government had pinned much hope on the fair for further expansion of Sino-foreign economic co-operation.

Lin believed the fair would help Chinese SMEs seeking foreign capital resources, expand Sino-foreign co-operation and import technologies and equipment.

"Spurred by the great success of the previous fairs, China has planned to build the annual China International Small and Medium Enterprises Fair into a big international economic event, annually attracting plenty of SMEs from home and abroad," Lin told a press conference in Guangzhou on Tuesday.

And the fair will be able to play a bigger part in boosting development of China's non-State-owned economy, Lin added.

The fair is currently jointly organized by five Chinese ministries and Guangdong provincial government.

Ma Kai, minister of the State Development and Reform Commission, Jin Renqing, minister of finance, Bo Xilai, minister of commerce, Wang Zhongfu, minister of the State Administration for Industry and Commerce, Liu Mingkang, chairman of the China Banking Regulatory Commission, and Huang Huahua, governor of Guangdong Province, are all directors of the fair's organizing committee.

The first CISMEF took place in Guangzhou between October 18 and 22, 2004. It attracted more than 118,000 visitors, including 46,000 domestic purchasing representatives and 5,600 overseas buyers.

A total of 1,950 SMEs from around the world participated in the event. They signed trade contracts valued at more than 32 billion yuan (US$2.13 billion).

The second event took place at Guangzhou Pazhou International Exhibition and Convention Centre from September 12 and 15.

A total of 198,000 domestic business representatives and 3,522 representatives from foreign SMEs attended the event. They displayed their products and services at more than 5,400 standard booths to seek expansion of co-operation and sales.

Foreign participants have mainly come from the United States, France, Italy, and Germany, the Republic of Korea, Japan and Southeast Asian countries.

Participants at the second session signed contracts valued at 42.6 billion yuan (US$5.33 billion).

A number of special seminars and forums have also been organized.