Gulfood Manufacturing 2014 opens at DWTC

Food processing trade event Gulfood Manufacturing was opened earlier this weekat Dubai World Trade Centre by Her Excellency Sheikha Lubna Bint Khalid Al Qasimi, Minister of International Cooperation and Development.

She was joined at the inauguration of the event by His Excellency Helal Saeed Almarri, director general, Department of Tourism & Commerce Marketing (DTCM) and CEO, Dubai World Trade Centre (DWTC); His Excellency Abdul Rahman Saif Al Ghurair, chairman, Dubai Chamber of Commerce and Industry, and various other leading UAE business chiefs and VVIPs.

The trade event features a three-day programme of sector-specific exhibitions, ministerial summits and conferences covering the spectrum of the global food production industry.

With 24 official country pavilions spread across the show-floor, Gulfood Manufacturing will also roll out the global food industry’s largest-ever Hosted Buyer Programme, an initiative designed to highlight the region’s rapidly expanding F&B manufacturing and production infrastructure to influential buyers from countries including Saudi Arabia, Kenya, Egypt, Turkey, South Africa, Algeria, Tunisia, Morocco, Libya, Iran and Nigeria amongst others.

“This week’s holistic food industry offering at Dubai World Trade Centre will provide global visitors from across the food trade with multiple platforms to learn about, experience and invest in the latest international ingredients, equipment and business improvement tools they need to secure sustainable productivity, profitability and business growth,” said DWTC’s senior vice-president, events & exhibitions department, Trixie LohMirmand.

Meanwhile, the Speciality Food Festival, SEAFEX, and Sweets and Snacks Middle East - DWTC’s annual trio of niche food shows – and the co-located World of Perishables Dubai 2014 and Dubai Municipality’s Dubai International Food Safety Conference were also inaugurated around the same time.