The Export Promotion Bureau’s annual showcase, the month-long Dhaka International Trade Fair, will kick off on January 1 next year bringing a host of local and international manufacturers and retailers under a single roof, or in this case the same patch of open sky.
The 19th edition of the fair organised by the commerce ministry and EPB will be held, as always, at Sher-E-Bangla Nagar in the city, on the grounds to the west of the Bangabandhu International Conference Centre.
The EPB has already invited applications from local and foreign firms to participate in the fair, informed a commerce ministry official, adding that ‘preparations are on to hold the event on time.’
Over 500 stalls will be set up, including pavilion, mini pavilions, premier pavilions and restaurants.
As ever, the event’s objective is to project the quality and variety of goods for export from Bangladesh to potential buyers from home and abroad.
Small-scale producers from the remote areas of rural Bangladesh with no way to access international markets will have the opportunity to display their products to potential buyers from abroad at the DITF, said an official at the EPB.
On the other hand, he said, the overseas participants would have the opportunity to display
their products to Bangladeshi consumers. The domestic market for consumer goods has been expanding.
Besides, the participants will be able to identify business contacts with prospects of entering into subsequent business negotiations, he added.
The fair has long acted also as a recreational event for Dhakaites, as a regular feature of the winter social calendar.
Every year the prime minister inaugurates the fair.
-With UNB/New Age input
