GASME News

The Fifth China’s SMEs Global Development Forum Held in Hangzhou

On January 10, 2018, the 5th China’s SME Global Development Forum and GASME China Annual Meeting, hosted by the Global Alliance of SMEs, was held at the InterContinental Hotel in Hangzhou.

Important guests including David Cameron, Former Prime Minister of the United Kingdom, Jean-Pierre Raffarin, Former Prime Minister of France and General Advisor of GASME, Lee Soo-sung, Former Prime Minister of South Korea, Xie Anshan, Former Vice President of The Supreme People’s Court of the People’s Republic of China, Yu Ping, Former Vice Chairman of China Council for the Promotion of International Trade, He Weiwen, Vice Chairman of GASME and Former Commercial Counselor Consulate-General of the P.R. China in NY, Cao Fang, Secretary-General of GASME and Advisor on Chinese Affairs to Former German President Wulff, Wang Zhenghua, Co-Chairman of the GASME Asia Committee and Chairman of Spring Group, Li Guangdou, Brand Consultant of CCTV and Expert on Brand Marketing Strategy, Li Jinyuan, Chairman of Tiens Group, Zheng Yuanbao, Chairman of Zhejiang Electric Industry Association and Chairman of the People Electric Appliance Group, Zhang Fenglan, Chairman of Jinbaorong Group, Chen Jun, Chairman of Guochuang Group, and Wu Youshui, Chairman of the Association of Chinese Business Associations and Chairman of Ronglian Assets Bureau attended the forum.

Themed “Creating New Momentum and Embarking on a New Journey”, the event had more than 600 experts, scholars, and entrepreneurs from home and abroad gathered together to explore the development path of global SMEs, and created new opportunities for SMEs to integrate international markets, expand resources, cooperate with each other, and develop together.

He Weiwen, Vice Chairman of GASME and Former Commercial Counselor Consulate-General of the P.R. China in NY delivered a speech on behalf of the alliance at the forum. He thanked Prime Minister Cameron and more than 600 experts, scholars, and business leaders for coming to the venue of the B20 Summit - InterContinental Hangzhou Hotel. He said that GASME is an international public platform shared by SMEs and large enterprises from all over the world. Through the platform, everyone shares resources, promotes and seeks cooperation together. In 2017, the global economy experienced a synchronized recovery, and this trend will continue in 2018. After four years of decline, the growth rate of world trade in 2017 once again exceeded that of GDP, indicating that the pace of globalization continues to advance and no force can stop it. This year, the situation will continue to develop. I hope all entrepreneurs present will assess the situation, plan early, and seize the opportunity for the development of SMEs.

Prime Minister Cameron delivered a keynote speech, in which he pointed out that his tenure as Prime Minister was a golden period between China and the UK, and building a great partnership was the core task of his term. He strongly supports President Xi’s Belt and Road Initiative. Regarding the development of SMEs, Cameron said that China’s rise stems from open and cooperative partnerships in economy, politics, society, and diplomacy. China’s rapid development is the most important economic story of the last century. In the past 15 years, the housing area built in China is equivalent to the total area of Europe, and the length of high-speed rail built even exceeds the sum of all other countries. During a dialogue session with four Chinese entrepreneurs, including Wang Zhenghua, Chairman of Spring Group, Li Guangdou, Brand Advisor of CCTV, Li Jinyuan, Chairman of Tiens Group, and Chen Jun, Chairman of Guochuang Group, Cameron pointed out that in the era of globalization, as another major economy with the highest per capita export volume in the world, the UK should welcome and embrace China’s rise. Cameron also reminded that in the development of globalization, we should not forget the important position of SMEs in society. They have increasingly become an important driving force for international society and economic development, especially in the field of innovation, and their role cannot be ignored. The government should give sufficient attention to SMEs, continuously strive to unleash their energy, encourage innovation, and support them in transforming their ideas into reality.

Cao Fang, GASME Secretary General stated in his speech that the alliance has established close cooperative relationships with over 50 former foreign Presidents, Prime Ministers and leaders of Fortune 500 companies. With the support of international leaders, GASME will do three major things in the future: hold a global conference - the World Manufacturing Convention. On May 24-26, GASME, the United Nations Industrial Development Organization, the Chinese People’s Association for Friendship with Foreign Countries, the German Federation of Industry and the People’s Government of Anhui Province will jointly hold the 2018 World Manufacturing Convention in Hefei, China, which will be attended by nearly 100 executives of Fortune Global 500 enterprises and more than 3000 entrepreneurs from advanced manufacturing industries in various countries; Organize a global competition - the Global Industrial Design Competition, establish an international selection mechanism for excellent industrial design products and concepts, gather elites from the industrial design industry of various countries, and serve China 2025; Build a global organization - the Global Alliance of Business Organizations (GABO), connecting over one million chambers of commerce and associations worldwide, and creating an interconnected platform for global business associations - the Global Network for Business Organizations.

Xie Anshan, Former Vice President of the Supreme People’s Court, put forward his own views on how SMEs can avoid legal difficulties and resolve legal challenges when going global. He said that the development of SMEs going global requires familiarity with the international legal environment, and special attention should be paid to key laws such as the Company Law, Product Quality Law, Anti Unfair Competition Law, Anti Monopoly Law, Tax Law, and Economic Contract Law. Legal risk warning analysis should be conducted to prevent human governance and arbitrariness in management, and to safeguard the legitimate rights and interests of SMEs in their development.

Yu Ping, Former Vice Chairman of China Council for the Promotion of International Trade elaborated on the current international development of SMEs worldwide. He said that SMEs are not only an important force for China’s economic and social development, but also an important cornerstone for the economic prosperity and development of countries along the the Belt and Road. To better leverage the role of SMEs, it is necessary to make going global a national strategy, comprehensively build a service system that supports the international development of SMEs, and introduce the Overseas Investment Law for SMEs.

Li Guangdou, Brand Consultant of CCTV and Expert on Brand Marketing Strategy gave a systematic exposition on “telling the story of China well and innovating Chinese brands”. He stated that the future economy is composed of brand economy, appearance economy, scene economy, and entertainment economy, and telling various brand stories well is the key to brand development.

Wang Zhenghua, Co-Chairman of the GASME Asia Committee and Chairman of Spring Group stated in his speech that enterprise development should be people-oriented, uphold integrity through morality, and adhere to low-cost sustainable development. Regardless of the size of the enterprise, it should shoulder the heavy burden of sustainable development and make its own modest efforts.

At the forum, CCTV host Yao Xuesong, along with Zheng Yuanbao, Chairman of Zhejiang Electric Industry Association, Wu Youshui, Chairman of the Alliance of Chinese Business Associations, Shu Denghui, Vice Chairman of GASME China, and Zhang Wendong, Vice President of the Nigeria Chamber of Commerce in China held a dialogue.

The China’s SME Global Development Forum has been held for four sessions. The first forum was held in Vienna, Austria in 2012, the second and third sessions were held in Ningbo, China in 2014 and 2015, respectively, and the fourth session was held in Wuhan, China in 2016.

This summit is executed by Ningbo Lightening Holdings Co., Ltd., jointly organized by Asia Nebula Brand Management (Beijing) Co., Ltd., Beijing Jinbaorong Holdings Group, Shanghai Guochuang Holdings Group, and Anhui Shangli International Trade Co., Ltd.