Still running 2 more days!
Grand opening of agrofood & plastprintpack West Africa 2013: International market- and technology leaders started to present their latest technologies towards a professional audience from all over West Africa. Top-level ministers, diplomats and representatives from international institutions gave this new industry hub for West Africa a fantastic kick-off.
And it has been a very good first day: 549 trade visitors from 26 countries. 12.4% of visitors from outside Ghana. 70.3% of visitors were decision-makers.
This is what they said ...
Hon. Nii Lantey Vanderpuye,
Deputy Minister of Trade and Industry:
I am highly excited by the participation of such a distinguished gathering of captains of industry and commerce, agro-processers and operators in the food and beverage industry. As a peasant agricultural country that seeks to transform itself into modern agricultural and industrialized economy, the "agrofood & plastprintpack West Africa 2013" international show should be seen as a significant contributor to achieving sustainable development.
Ghana due to its political stability combined with her unprecedented democratic dispensation and stable macro-economic policies, has become a haven for foreign direct investment and indeed the gateway to the larger ECOWAS market of the future, with potential for exporters in the food, agricultural and food processing industry. With the recent oil and gas find, it has become more attractive for numerous socio-economic activities. It is my hope the trade show will further boost our efforts at modernizing our agro-processing and packaging industries considered vital to our export led economic policies.
To my fellow Ghanaian/ECOWAS participants, I would like to use this opportunity to encourage you to take advantage of the show especially the applied technologies for efficient transformation of our local processes. The West African market for agricultural technology and livestock is becoming ever more important. Similarly, the West African imports of agricultural machinery and equipment is growing steadily.
On behalf of Hon. Clement Kofi Humado,
Minister of Food & Agriculture:
It is a pleasure and honour for me to address the opening ceremony of agrofood & plastprintpack West Africa 2013. The agriculture sector is guided by the Food and Agriculture Sector Development Policy (FASDEP II) and its implementation vehicle which is the Medium Term Agriculture Sector Investment Plan (METASIP). The METASIP is pursuing a 6 percent annual growth.
The emphasis on agrofood is a welcome theme as the Ministry places particular attention on the value chain and agribusiness. This exhibition being the first International Trade Fair on Agrofood, Beverage and Packing Technology comes as a handy platform for farmers, agro-processors and all actors along the value chain to take up technologies that would move agribusiness forward.
This fair is targeted to the West Africa Region; there is opportunity to harness the vast market and also to exchange technologies that are available in the sub-region. However, this exhibition should not be only a platform to sell technologies and equipment/machinery but also for technology transfer and capacity building for recipients of the technologies.
H.E. Thomas Wimmer, Acting Ambassador
Embassy of the Federal Republic of Germany to Ghana:
Ghana is in the process of developing into a West African hub for international trade fairs and conferences. And I am very happy that Germany is a reliable partner in this development. Today, we are here to celebrate the opening of the "agrofood & plastprintpack West Africa" – again two trail-blazers for more trade and investment in Ghana and the region. Again, after WACEE'13 three weeks ago, we are witnessing a – very international – event: Mr März from fairtrade and Mr Martens from the German Delegation of Industry and Commerce: Congratulations for setting up this impressive event!
Ghana is a large exporter of agricultural products, such as cacao, tropical fruit, palm oil, etc. This makes Ghana very attractive, and this attractiveness, of course, is also reflected by the large number of exhibitors we can welcome today. And there's a lot of potential for growth in agro-processing and packaging: Both are crucial for food and agricultural exports, one of the backbones of the Ghanaian economy. All the talk about oil and gas in West Africa is understandable, but a serious professionalization of agriculture – including the processing, packaging, marketing and exportation of agricultural products – is likely to have an even broader impact on people's lives.
Ms Nella Hengstler, Commercial Counsellor
Austrian Embassy in Lagos, Nigeria (with responsibility for Ghana):
With an export value of more than one billion Euros, the Austrian plastic machinery sector is one of the flagships of our mechanical engineering industry, which is one of the country's most important lines of industry. While Austria's core markets are mostly in Europe and North America, our companies have recognized the importance of emerging markets and specifically West Africa. I therefore welcome the group participation of Austrian companies at plastprintpack West Africa 2013 and hope that this will be the starting point for many fruitful and longlasting business relationships.
Mr Alain Reocreux,
ADEPTA - The French Association for the Development of International Trade in Agricultural and Food Processing Techniques:
Since the year 2000, ADEPTA has developed a long partnership with the Ghanaian public and private sector. During the past decade, ADEPTA organized 3 business delegations to Accra.
The Republic of Ghana aims at creating an environment for sustainable growth and at ensuring food and raw material security, higher employment, reduction in poverty and at creating wealth, greater contribution of the sector to GDP and foreign exchange earnings. In April 2011, a memorandum of understanding between the Ghanaian Ministry of Trade and Industry and ADEPTA was signed in Paris.
We thank the organizer fairtrade for inviting us to exhibit at this first edition of agrofood West Africa. The French Pavilion, located in the main entrance of the hall, features 19 French companies showcasing latest solutions and innovations for farming (animal or vegetal), processing and packaging.
Martin März,
CEO of the organizers fairtrade:
On behalf of the entire organizing team of fairtrade, I have the great pleasure to welcome all our distinguished guests, exhibitors and visitors to agrofood & plastprintpack West Africa 2013. According to VDMA-The German Engineering Association, West African imports of food processing and packaging machinery, between 2010 and 2012, have increased from 341 to 567 million Euro, a plus of 66%. And West African imports of plastics machinery went up by 40%, from 96 million Euro in 2010 to 135.0 million Euro in 2012. According to UN comtrade – the United Nations Commodity Trade Statistics Database, West African food imports, in 2010, have reached 8.6 billion US$. It is on this background and responding to the growth, demand and vitality of West Africa's industry, that we at fairtrade organise agrofood & plastprintpack West Africa.
