The Department of Trade and Industry will again lead a group of South African companies to the 2014 Zimbabwe International Trade Fair (ZITF), in Bulawayo, from April 22 to 26, which over the last three years has contributed millions to South Africa’s economy.

Trade and Industry Deputy Minister Elizabeth Thabethe last week said ahead of the fair, themed ‘New Ideas, New Heights’, that the ZITF was an important mechanism to pursue intra-Africa trade as well as to strengthen relations between South Africa and its Southern African Development Community (SADC) counterparts and the rest of the world.

She described Zimbabwe as one of South Africa’s key strategic partner countries in the SADC region, with export sales resulting from the country’s previous participation in the fair, as reported by South African companies, amounting to R6.6-million, R7.1-million and R55.6-million in 2011, 2012 and 2013 respectively.

The companies were this year assisted under the department’s Export Marketing and Investment Assistance Scheme (EMIA), which aimed to develop export markets for South African products and services and recruit new foreign direct investment into the country. This was achieved through marketing assistance to develop new export markets and grow existing export markets.

The EMIA also identified new export markets for South African products through market research.

“Last year, South Africa was voted the best foreign exhibitor stand [at the ZITF], owing to its [high] quality and design. South African firms took up the largest single exhibition space of 800 m2, followed by China, with 600 m2,” Thabethe commented. 

Countries represented at the fair included China, Brazil, Congo Brazzaville, Egypt, Indonesia, Iran, Kenya, Malawi, Mozambique, Poland, Bangladesh, India and Nigeria, while the US would also participate after a long absence from the yearly trade showcase. 

This year’s exhibition would feature product groups such as machinery and expertise for infrastructure, manufacturing processes and equipment, innovation, automation and supplies for agroprocessing.