On October 30, the Asia Europe Meeting (ASEM) Small and Medium
Enterprises (SME) Ministerial Meeting opened in the Great Hall of
the People in Beijing. This is the first SME Ministerial Meeting
proposed and hosted by China within the ASEM framework.
On behalf of the Chinese government, Vice Premier Wu Yi
presented an opening address. She said that with 60 percent of the
global population, the ASEM member nations make up 50 percent of
the world's gross national products (GNP) and garner 60 percent of
the world's entire trade volume.
She pointed out that there is great potential and a very bright
future in cooperation between Asian and European SMEs because they
are highly complementary in regard to technologies, labor and
markets. She said that she believes cooperation of this kind would
make a significant global impact because it could promote economic
development and social stability and narrow economic gaps between
ASEM members.
Wu said that SMEs have become a great driving force behind
social and economic development as they are contributing more and
more to employment enhancement, technological innovation and
economic cooperation. She emphasized that stimulating the
development of SMEs is a winning strategy that could realize great
accomplishments.
In order to further promote cooperation between Asian and
European SMEs, Wu advocated five pieces of advice: First, promoting
governmental collaboration to make more exchanges of SME-related
policies; second, encouraging the presence of non-governmental
organizations; third, improving service systems to provide
high-quality services to SMEs; fourth, increasing the technological
innovation capacity of SMEs to realize sustainable development;
fifth, enhancing the inter-sector and inter-regional cooperation to
broaden SME investment horizons.
Wu pledged that China would make full use of current resources
to boost the trade and economic cooperation with each ASEM
member.
Reportedly proposed by Premier Wen Jiabao during the sixth ASEM
Summit last year, this is the first time such a meeting has
convened. Sponsored by China's National Development and Reform
Commission (NDRC), the Ministry of Commerce (MOC) and the Ministry
of Foreign Affairs, governmental representatives from 45 ASEM
member countries, including 34 high ranking officials holding a
position of vice minister or above, are attending the two-day
event. At the close of the meeting, they will pass a declaration
concerning SME-related cooperation.
Before the meeting, Wu Yi also held a talk with Sweden's Deputy
Prime Minister and Minister for Enterprise and Energy, Maud
Olofsson, who came to China specifically to attend the meeting.
They exchanged ideas on how to further enhance various kinds of
cooperation relating to the economy and various technologies as
well as discussing SMEs.
(China.org.cn by Pang Li, October 30, 2007)
