By Tanko Mohammed
The Enugu Chamber of Commerce, Industries, Mines and Agriculture (ECCIMA) on Tuesday inaugurated a planning committee for the 32nd Enugu International Trade Fair.
The fair is designed to deepen the economy of the south-eastern part of the country..
Inaugurating the committee, the First Vice President of ECCIMA, Mr Jasper Nduagwuike, urged its members to produce ideas that would improve the conduct of the fair held annually.
Nduagwuike said it was necessary to start preparations for the fair, which holds in March 2021 in good time, for a successful outing.
He noted that the Enugu International Trade Fair is one of the high points of economic activities in the southeast region and added that the chamber hoped that the COVID-19 pandemic would have been successfully contained before the year 2021 in order to ensure a hitch-free outing.
“Our understanding of the economy is that it may not be in our best interest to have a wholly virtual trade fair,” he explained.
Nduagwuike said that the chamber would leverage on the lessons from previous fairs to make the 32nd edition the most successful.
According to him, other post COVID-19 international trade fairs in the country would take place before the ECCIMA fair.
“By then we would have learnt from their experiences to ensure we conduct ours in the best way possible. We will do everything to improve on what we had during the 31st edition of the fair,’’ he said.
Nduagwuike added that the chamber was doing everything possible to improve on the participation of state governments in the zone in the trade fairs.
“We want the 32nd Enugu International Trade Fair to be the most improved trade fair that will hold in Nigeria within this period,’’ he said.
He expressed confidence that the avowed commitment of the Enugu State Government to improve on the business environment in the state would be an added advantage to a successful outing.
Nduagwuike, however, appealed to the Federal Ministry of Trade and Investments to make good its promise of developing the permanent trade fair complex in the state.
“We have been making this appeal in the last 31 years and I have no doubt that something would have started at the permanent complex before the next trade fair.
“We have no doubt that the ministry is committed to developing the complex,” Nduagwuike said.
Responding, the Chairman of the planning committee, Mr Nonye Osakwe, said that the committee would do its best to organise a very successful trade fair.
The theme of the 32nd Enugu International Trade Fair is: “Promoting New Technologies, Business Ideas and Development in Nigeria.’’
