UNIDO participates in the SME International Cooperation Summit hosted by China

UNIDO took part in the SME International Cooperation Summit held on 15-16 September 2021 in Guangzhou, China. At the invitation of Minister of Industry and Information Technology of China, UNIDO Director General LI Yong delivered a keynote speech at the opening ceremony of the Summit that focused on the theme of "Build a Shared Future Through Innovation and Development".  

At the Summit, the participants shared their strategies, policies, practices and experiences in support of small and medium enterprise (SME) development in the current challenging global context. During the Summit, LI Yong highlighted the disruption to SMEs caused by COVID-19 crises and called on universal support for strengthening international cooperation, sharing knowledge, expertise, best practices and technological solutions for SME development. As technological progress was already changing the landscape for many SMEs, LI committed UNIDO’s determination in advocating the application of science, technology and innovation, and helping governments adjust their policies, with SME at the core of its mandate.

At the SME Ministers’ Roundtable held on 15 September 2021, UNIDO was represented by Bernardo Calzadilla Sarmiento, Managing Director of the UNIDO’s Directorate of Digitalization, Technology and Agri-Business. Calzadilla Sarmiento emphasized the importance of supporting SMEs to successfully achieve digitalization and driving the development of appropriate standards and quality infrastructure. In this respect, he pointed out, “UNIDO is strongly committed to supporting SME development in current challenging global environment in order to drive industrial transformation.”

For further information contact dta [at] unido.org