Economies in the Asia-Pacific region should work together to promote the sustainable development of small and medium-sized enterprises, given the unstable and unbalanced trend of the global economic recovery, industrial insiders said.

"We need to strengthen exchanges of policies and experiences, continuously stimulate the vitality of market entities, cultivate new drivers of economic growth after the COVID-19 pandemic and inject strong momentum into the economic recovery of the Asia-Pacific," said Xu Xiaolan, vice-minister of industry and information technology.

Xu made the remarks during the APEC Forum on Promoting Specialized and Innovative Development of SMEs, which was held on Monday in Guangzhou, Guangdong province.

The forum took place ahead of the 18th China International Small and Medium Enterprises Fair, during which a national campaign will be launched to help them promote digital transformation, build brand value and commercialize sci-tech achievements.

More than 2,100 companies from home and abroad were invited to participate in the fair, organizers said. Chinese companies participating are mainly from major industries ranging from equipment manufacturing to electronic information, new materials and energy, pharmaceuticals, medical services and food and agricultural products.

"We also need to build a high-quality and efficient service system, helping guide SMEs to accelerate the pace of digital and green transformation in the Asia-Pacific," Xu said.

By the end of 2022, China had developed more than 52 million SMEs that have played an important role in supporting economic growth, according to Gao Zhenting, counselor in the international economic department of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs.

"SMEs in the Asia-Pacific should be encouraged to participate in integration, innovation and integrated applications of a new generation of information technology, and should actively integrate into the application scenarios and industrial ecology of the 5G industrial internet to improve production efficiency," Gao said.