On June 6th of 2009, an international forum on how to overcome SMEs’ financing difficulties was held in Beijing, jointly sponsored by MOST, Ministry of Industry and Information Technology (MIIT), China Banking Regulatory Commission (CBRC), China Association of Small and Medium Enterprises (CASME) and CCTV-2. The Forum aims at building a platform for central governmental departments, local governments, financial institutes, and SMEs for direct information release and dialogue. WAN Gang, Minister of Science and Technology, and LIU Mingkang, Chairman of CBRC,  delivered keynote speeches on the Forum.

According to WAN, over the past three decades since China’s reform and opening-up, SMEs, which accounted for 99% of all the enterprises in China,  contributed more than 60% of GDP, more than 50% of the tax revenue, provided 70% of the import and export trade volume, 80% of urban employment, 66% of the patented inventions and 82% of new product development. SMEs have become an important force in boosting economy, expanding employment, restructuring, promoting innovation and forging new industries.

WAN also said MOST will join hands with all the social communities for further optimizing financing environment, supporting SMEs’ innovative development, and uniting SMEs to conquer crisis.