ZITF 2013 was held in Bulawayo on 23-27 April under the theme, “Building Value, Enhancing Growth.”
The exhibition, which is one of the biggest annual fairs in the region, saw an increase in the number of foreign exhibitors from the previous edition as well as thousands of visitors.
“ZITF 2013 ended on a confident note and matched our expectations. The exhibition was similar in most respects to last year’s edition. It is pleasing that 54 years on, the exhibition is still growing,” Chigaru said in a statement to The Zimbabwean.
The 55th edition of the event takes place next year during the period 22-26 April.
“We invite all interested exhibitors to register early for this international event, which already looks promising,” Chigaru said. A total of 16 nations participated, up from 14 last year.
These are Botswana, Brazil, China, Ethiopia, Germany, Indonesia, Italy, Kenya, Malawi, Mozambique, Namibia, Pakistan, Poland, South Africa, Tanzania and Zambia.
Of these, 12 were national stands while Ethiopia, Germany, Namibia and Pakistan were stands represented by individual companies.
Presence from the European Union was maintained with exhibitors from Italy, Poland and Germany. Such countries had previously shunned the fair owing to the host country’s political and economic problems.
Chigaru said China increased their space they had in 2012 from 500 square-metres to 600 square metres and South Africa increased their space by 75 percent to 700 square-metres.
More than 88 000 people were admitted through the exhibition centre gates. Of these, 48 percent were exhibition visitors made up of more than 4 800 business visitors and more than 37,000 non-business visitors.
The majority of these visitors to the exhibition were local while foreign visitors came from as far as Australia, Bangladesh, Botswana, China, Egypt, Ethiopia, Italy, Malawi, Mauritius, Mozambique, Pakistan, South Africa, Tanzania, United Kingdom, United States of America and Zambia, Chigaru stated.
Post published in: Agriculture