Expo Jamaica 2016 opens on Thursday
Hundreds of Jamaican manufactured products to be displayed over four days
HUNDREDS OF Jamaican producers and their products will be on display starting this Thursday at the National Arena and the National Indoor sports Centre for the 43rd annual showpiece, which displays Jamaican products to the world.
Under the theme ‘The Business Hub of the Caribbean’, the expo will feature hundreds of Jamaican products over four days.
“We are in year 43, so expo is now an institution, but it’s a dynamic and exciting institution because as Jamaica grows in strength and global reach, and in the development of our product range, the expo has attracted more and more people,” said Edwards while speaking at a Gleaner Editors’ Forum last Wednesday.
According to Edwards, the showpiece will be an exposition of the best of what Jamaica can offer to the region and the world.
“What we want is to showcase the best products that we have and particularly new and exciting products that can go into any supermarket internationally and that can go into any distribution channel internationally.
“We have a wide range of those products that will be on display. We also have collaboration of the tourism sector, which is a section of the expo, and that is to show how tourism relates to the product as a service and bring the Jamaican tourism experience to the expo,” added Edwards.
She said the expo has become a marketplace where buyers and suppliers meet, taking it from a largely consumers exposition.
More than 300 booth spaces are available and more than 200 exhibitors.
PUSHING J’CAN PRODUCTS
Paul Lewis, deputy president of the Jamaica Exporters’ Association, said its memberbase continues to be excited about the opportunities to showcase what they have to offer.
“For us, we see this as a platform to continue to push Jamaican products and services through this platform to give more recognition globally,” Lewis told the Editors’ Forum.
Berletta Henlon-Forrester, manager of market development at JAMPRO, said the 2016 expo will feature a new products showcase.
“This is because we have a number of repeat buyers and we wanted to ensure that they have new products each time they come to a show. We know as a fact that a number of our Jamaican manufacturers have new products since 2014, which the general public may not be aware of,” she stated.
For us, we see this as a platform to continue to push Jamaican products and services through this platform to give more recognition
globally.