The 13th Macao International Trade and Investment Fair (MIF) opened on Thursday, attracting some 272 delegations from 57 countries and regions.

The four-day MICE (Meetings, Incentives, Conference and Exhibitions) event, organized by the Macao Trade and Investment Promotion Institute (IPIM), with delegations from the world's major trade nations and regions including U.S., EU, Brazil and Taiwan, and "new faces" Greece, Romania, United Arab Emirates, Uruguay, Venezuela, Columbia and the Marshall Islands participating in this year's MIF, according to the IPIM. The fair also saw officials and business representatives from some 13 provinces of the Chinese mainland.

Given the sweeping effect of the credit crunch, global financial market and economy is facing great challenges, which brought various uncertainties on the operations and development of the enterprises, said Lee Peng Hong, president of the IPIM, adding that the enterprises can find their business opportunities through the service platform of MIF.

A large part of the fair's exhibition sites will be dedicated to the SMEs (small and medium enterprises). The organizer will hold the "SME International Business Days" from Oct. 24 to 25, with some 30 seminars/forums and a multi-faceted variety of business services specially designed for the SMEs. Its aim was to assist the SMEs to explore markets and enhance their competitiveness.

Lee said that over 2,200 cooperation projects have been collected in advance, and all of them will be announced through the Internet and undergo business matching.

A number of forums will also be held through the fair period, including the International Trade and Investment Forum 2008, Macao International Convention and Exhibition CEO Forum 2008, the 2nd Forum of Exhibition Co-operation of Guangdong-Hong Kong-Macao.