The 21st Dhaka International Trade Fair (DITF) 2016 begins tomorrow. The fair organisers and exhibitors are anticipating a huge turnout of visitors from home and abroad this year due to the existing stable political situation. Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina is scheduled to inaugurate the fair at 3:30pm tomorrow. Participants are hoping a good turnout that will help them to get a boost in their sales. Traders from national and multinational companies along with some foreign companies are spontaneously attending the fair with great enthusiasm, said the organisers. Last year, the DITF participants were hit hard due to the then nonstop political turmoil situation, resulting in poor turnout and poor sales. The Export Promotion Bureau and the Ministry of Commerce are jointly organising the month-long trade show to display new products to attract global buyers as well as local consumers. The expo will continue till January 31, 2016. Both the organisers and the exhibitors hoped that this years DITF would bring joy to them with huge turnout and sales would outperform the previous years as the prevailing political situation is in favour of the businesses. “We’ve completed 95% of the tasks for building our show-room and will complete it by today (Wednesday) by giving it final shape to help display our products to local and foreign customers,” Mamunuzzaman, a site engineer of Partex Furniture told the Dhaka Tribune yesterday. Commenting on overall progress of the trade show, Mamun expected that almost all the pavilion and stalls, excepting some smaller ones, would be completed by tomorrow. “We’re expecting more turnout in this year’s DITF comparing to the previous ones as the political situation is now quite stable, AKM Iqbal Hossain, manager of marketing (events) of PRAN told the Dhaka Tribune. Last year, the company has bagged a good amount of sales, but that could be increased further, if there were no more political unrest this time, said Hossain. “If the entire situation remains same, we are hopping a robust business as we have 2,500 plus plastic items branded as RFL while 350 plus other products under the brand of PRAN,” he added. Meanwhile, organisers have also echoed the same view with the exhibitors. “Local and global participants will take part spontaneously in the fair as there is no political unrest in the country this year. We’ve taken up necessary initiatives to ensure security to visitors as well as the exhibitors,” Shubhashis Bose, vice-president of Export Promotion Bureau (EPB) told the Dhaka Tribune. Local manufacturers will display new products to attract global as well as the local consumers, which will help them to come close with the consumers at the show, Bose added. The show is aimed to promote local products and the EPB has made all the necessary arrangements to make it a total success, he added. According to EPB data, a total of 68 foreign companies from 21 countries has applied for allocation of pavilions. Among them, 54 pavilions were allocated for them. As a whole, a total of 535 pavilion and stalls were allocated for exhibitors, out of 548 finalised during layout process.
