Month-long Ramadan Fair highlight local entrepreneurs

COTABATO CITY - The annual Ramadan Trade Fair has formally opened here last week and is participated by dozens of traders who put up their booths that featured local goods.

The Department of Trade and Industry in the Autonomous Region in Muslim Mindanao (DTIARMM) said at least 20 booths were dedicated to hosting the businesses of those who are still displaced by last year’s ISIS siege of Marawi City in Lanao del Sur province.

Their booths were subsidized by the Office of the Regional Governor, along with food and accommodation, during their stay in Cotabato City throughout the trade fair.

“We provided them grants of P30,000 for capital and P10,000 for the tools they needed to take their business here in Cotabato City for the Ramadhan fair,” said Nhorkhalila Mae B. Mambuay-campong, Chief-of-staff of the Office of the Regional Governor.

The fair featured both food and non-food products were geared towards endorsing and renewing interest in the local goods available across the region.

A number of line agencies of the Autonomous Region in Muslim Mindanao (ARMM) regional government were also featured during the fair. The Department of Agrarian Reform-armm also put a booth that featured products from the region’s agrarian reform beneficiaries, while the Department of Science and Technology-armm booth featured products that were produced and packaged with the help of the agency.

The Department of Health in ARMM offered free medical services while the Department of Tourism featured local tourism sites. The trade fair featured nightly program covering a wide range of Islamic topics with different ARMM line agencies scheduled to take charge of the program every right until the end of the Ramadan on June 15.