Yesterday (June 15, 2007), Mr. Huang Huahua, governor of Guangdong Province had an interview with the visiting group from Japan headed by Ishige Hiroyuki, Chief of Small and Medium Enterprises Agency of Japan. Both sides made the profound discussion of the preparation for the 4th China International Small and Medium Enterprise Fair.

    Huang Huahua extended his warmest welcome to the guests and gave them a brief introduction of the latest scenarios of the economic and social development in Guangdong Province. He continued, in recent years the commercial and trading relationship between Guangdong Province and Japan has gained the strong momentum for rapid development. In 2006 the export and import turnovers between the two sides reached 48 billion USD and the first quarter of this year witnessed another increase of 12.5 billion USD, up by 25% over the same period of the previous year. In the mean while, by the end of last year, there were altogether more than 8000 Japanese enterprises setting up subsidiaries in Guangdong Province with a total investment up to 7 billion USD, most of which have achieved tremendous success for their investment in Guangdong Province.

    Huang Huahua expressed that China and Japan would pool joint efforts to co-sponsor the 4th China International Small and Medium Enterprise Fair, which is actually one of the most outstanding results achieved during the official visit to Japan by Premier Wen Jiabao in April this year. It is highly believed that with the concerted efforts for mutual cooperation, the 4th China International Small and Medium Enterprise Fair to be held in Guangzhou City in September will be a consummate success with ceremony and warmth and at the same time the co-sponsoring the 4th China International Small and Medium Enterprise Fair with sincere cooperation will forge a closer cooperation between the small and medium enterprises, in particular, from Guangdong and Japan in the economic and trade fields.