With over four months to go before next year’s Zimbabwe International Trade Fair (ZITF), 171 exhibitors have already confirmed their participation at the 2020 edition of the international trade event. This was revealed by the ZITF Company Acting General Manager, Nicholas Ndebele during a media conference which he addressed in Bulawayo this week to mark the commencement of its marketing campaign ahead of next year’s exhibition season.
“To date 171 exhibitors have already confirmed their participation by booking a total of 35 977 square metres of exhibition space. This compares favourably to the booking situation at the same time last year where 127 exhibitors had booked 31 584 square metres,” Ndebele said.
Ndebele told the media that his company was currently involved in negotiations with various international exhibitors. He indicated that over 10 foreign countries had shown interest in participating in the 2020 edition of the international trade fair with five of them having already confirmed their participation.
“Ethiopia, Japan, Kenya, Malawi and Zambia have already confirmed participation while countries such as Belarus, Egypt, the DRC, Indonesia, Iran, the Netherlands, Pakistan, Spain, South Korea and Russia had expressed keen interest and are yet to confirm their bookings,” he said.
The ZITF official highlighted that next year’s trade fair and ancillary concurrent shows such as the Bulawayo Agricultural Show would be held from 21 to 25 April under the theme: “Augmenting trade and investment towards a shared economic vision.”
“The theme locates (the) ZITF as the ideal platform to profile initiatives and innovations that are integral to setting the economy on a positive growth trajectory as we focus on Zimbabwe’s national vision of achieving an upper middle class income status by 2030,” he explained.
Turning to the trade fair’s programme, Ndebele indicated that its business days would run from 21 to 23 April 2020 while 24 and 25 April would be public days.
“In terms of the diary, notable events include the ZITF International Business Conference on 22 April, Manufacturers’ Conference on 23 April, the Zimbabwe National Chamber of Commerce (ZNCC) will host its annual business luncheon on the same day with the official opening slated for the 24th of April,” Ndebele said.
He, however, did not disclose the guest of honour who is set to officiate during the official opening of the event.
The ZITF, the country’s international trade promotion exhibition, has been running since 1960 and over the years has come up with other concurrent shows such as the home improvement showcase, Ulitima8. It also runs the Mining Engineering and Transport (MineEntra) which is held in July annually.
