Ghanaian exhibitors say participation in Turkish Trade Fair positive
Ghanaian exhibitors, who participated in the Izmir International Fair in Turkey, have praised the Ghana Export Promotion Authority (GEPA) for the smooth organisation that made the fair successful.
GEPA facilitated the participation of 12 companies from the pharmaceutical, cosmetics and food and beverage sectors in the Fair, paying for freight, exhibition stands and interpreters for the companies.
GEPA’s facilitation of companies in the five-day fair was also to promote increased and sustained export of Ghanaian products and to encourage joint ventures between Ghanaian businesses and their Turkish counterparts.
The participation in the fair is also to deepen bilateral trade relations between the two countries and to strengthen Ghana’s trade balance vis-à-vis that of Turkey.
The fair, from August 29 to September 2, was to enable the Ghanaian companies to expose their products to the rest of the world.
Most of the exhibitors, who were participating in the Izmir fair for the first time, expressed satisfaction about the positive outcome of the fair, saying they had established good business contacts.
Mrs Francesca Opoku, Chief Executive Officer Solution Oasis, a natural beauty products producer, said the participation in the fair was good and that she had made contacts with trade visitors, although not the big buyers.
She expressed the hope that in future the GEPA could help in organising buying companies.
Mr Kwame Afari, Vice-President Sea Freight Pineapple Producers of Ghana, said although the language barrier was a challenge, GEPA’s engagement of interpreters had helped the exhibitors to meet their expectations.
He said he had made fruitful contact with a distributor, who is willing to import the fresh pineapple for distribution in Turkey and that they had agreed a trial export of a container every two weeks to test the market.
Dr Joseph Danquah, CEO of JL Danquah Herbal products, a first time exhibitor, lauded GEPA’s efforts at ensuring timely arrival of exhibitors’ products to the fair.
He said the Turkish people were happy with the products, especially the herbal products for treatment of sexual weaknesses and the weight reduction pills.
He said the exposure had given him the opportunity to make contacts, adding that he had plans to start processing documents to enable him take full advantage of the Turkish market. “I expect to get more contacts and sell everything here,” he said.
Mr Emmanuel Asante, General Manager of Myroc Food Processing, a raw tuna processing company, said he had made some few contacts that he expected to leverage on to boost the business.
He said although this was the first time, he would follow up to access the 75 million population Turkish market.
Source: GNA