About 150 exhibitors including corporates, Small and Medium Enterprises, vendors as well as Offices, Ministries, and Agencies are exhibiting their products and services at this year’s Swakopmund International Trade Exposition (SWAiTEX).
Launched in 2012, the expo has become an annual event that provides a unique platform to showcase product and service offerings for local and international enterprises.
Speaking at the official opening of the week-long expo at Swakopmund on Wednesday, Bisey Uirab, President of the Namibia Chamber of Commerce (NCCI) which organises the event, said assessments indicate that the event provides enormous opportunities for trading, networking, insightful policy, best practice information, and brand marketing, amongst many other benefits.
‘At the same time, it provides a platform for insightful engagements with policy makers and other industry players. The wide-ranging interest and attendance beyond this region of Erongo and Namibia offers an opportunity for participating entities
to tap and serve this diverse SADC market and increases brand awareness beyond the geographical boundaries,’ he expressed.
He added that NCCI regards its advocacy role of engaging with government to ensure that the environment is conducive for the private sector to thrive and make a meaningful contribution to the country’s economic development.
Ghanaian Minister of Foreign Affairs and Regional Integration Shirley Ayorkor Botchwey at the same event urged for trade expos such as this to be taken advantage of, to turn the African continent’s necessity to its advantage.
‘This means making African products our preferred products and building partnerships regionally and across the continent to service our common market under the African Continental Free Trade Area (AfCFTA).
That would not just create efficient pathways to economic growth; they constitute essential components of sustainable development, enhancing the required levels and quality of cooperation and inclusivity,’ Botchwey added.
This year’s SWAiTE
X takes place under the theme: ‘Efficient Connectivity and Resource Beneficiation for Sustainable Growth in Africa’, a theme which is said to resonate with the vision for deepening African integration as outlined in the African Union’s Agenda 2063: ‘The Africa We Want’.
Source: The Namibia Press Agency