The China SME (small- and medium-sized enterprise) Global Development Forum opened Monday, focusing on topics including the difficulties of Chinese SMEs in global development.

More than 100 SMEs from China's Zhejiang Province and about 30 enterprises from Austria and the other EU countries attended the forum.

During his speech on the forum, Director General of the United Nations Industrial Development Organization (UNIDO) Kandeh K. Yumkella said that China is not only a huge market for enterprises over the world, but also increasingly an important breeding ground for scientific and technological innovation.

In this sense, during the future development of the global economy, the world needs China, and China needs the world, too, he said.

The UNIDO is willing to provide the Chinese enterprises with necessary assistance in the process of globalization, especially in their investment in developing countries and regions including Africa, he said.

"SMEs play a very important role in our national economic and social development," said Gao Yingzhong, head of Zhejiang SME Bureau.

Like the other types of enterprises, Zhejiang's SMEs were also impacted by the financial crisis and the European debt crisis further exacerbated the impact on their traditional exports, he said.

"Therefore, this year we have organized the forum to provide a platform to promote the expansion of Zhejiang's SMEs in the European market, to seek cooperation with their counterparts in Europe, and to promote the development and prosperity of Zhejiang's SMEs," he said.

The forum is among the events held during the EU-China SME Partnership Week 2012 to advance cooperation between China and the EU.