Organizing a press meet Friday, Trade and Export Promotion Centre (TEPC) -- the organizer of the event, said all preparations have completed and they were at the final stage of installing lights and stage for the event.[break]
The event, which is being organized with the slogan of ´regional progress through business´, will see the participation of six countries from the South Asia region.
“There will be business stalls of India, Sri Lanka, Pakistan, Bangladesh, Bhutan and Nepal, while Afghanistan and Maldives will only have stalls to promote their tourism attractions,” said Rameshkumar Shrestha, executive director of TEPC.
According to the organizers, China, Japan, South Korea, Iran, Mauritius, Australia, Myanmar, and some European nations will participate in the fair as observers.
“The fair is being organized for the promotion of business, investment encouragement and tourism promotion in the participating countries,” Shrestha said, adding that it will also be an effective platform for the promotion of Nepal Tourism Year 2011. He further added that the fair can even help the country rebound from the trade deficit situation.
The fair will have altogether 312 stalls, out of which 293 will be related to products from the participating countries. Similarly, there will be eight food stalls and eight more for the purpose of tourism promotion. India will have 41 stalls in the event followed by 60 from Bangladesh, 28 from Pakistan, 20 from Bhutan and five from Sri Lanka. The event will see 142 stalls from Nepal, according to the organizers.
The organizers are expected more than 50,000 visitors to turn up at the fair which will see the participation of more than 2,000 businessmen from the region. The fair which is held every year in SAARC member countries was organized in Nepal in 2002.
About Rs 40 million has already been spent to prepare the venue for the fair.
Nepali stalls will feature different products like handicrafts, pashmina, agro products and hand-knotted carpets as well as leather and metal products.
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