More than 250 national and international exhibitors participated in the 13th international showcase for the food, hotel, processing and packaging industry held in Jeddah International Exhibition and Conventional Center from May 18 to 22. The trio-event featured ‘Food Arabia' for food and beverages and catering, ‘Hotel Arabia' for hotel equipment and supplies and services, and ‘Propac Arabia' for processing, packaging, canning, bottling, labeling and plastics. Pakistan Pavilion at the Food and Hotel Fair was inaugurated by Ambassador of Pakistan to the Kingdom Admiral (Rtd) Shahid Karimullah. Sixteen leading Pakistani companies participated and displayed their full range of products. The ambassador in the inaugural address underlined the need for such exhibition in the Kingdom that will help introduce Pakistani products to the Saudi Market. “Although the participation of Pakistani companies in the fair is satisfactory, there is a need for introducing the full range of Pakistan products including engineering goods and other commodities that are manufactured in Pakistan at competitive cost,” said Karimullah. Keeping in view the global crunch in rice exports, Saudi traders showed keen interest in Pakistani basmati rice and other consumer items of international brands. Major exports of Pakistan includes rice, fish and fish preparations, fruits, meat and meat preparations, vegetables, spices, sugar, oil seeds and nuts, guar and guar products, poultry etc. No Indian delegation came to participate in the fair this year. However, a company participated individually. In 2006, Mumbai led an Indian delegation of six companies representing reputed exporters and manufacturers of honey and honey syrups, processed dry fruits and nuts, cooking oil, stretch blow molding machine, frozen food products. The Indian stands received an overwhelming response from the business community and general public. The participating companies handled a large number of trade enquiries at that time. This year as well, the visitors' attraction of the Food and Hotel Arabia show was the prominent ‘top chef' feature. Housed in an auditorium especially constructed for the event, ‘top chef' had since its inception attracted tremendous interest. Themed cooking demonstrations, especially Indian food, made this a unique culinary experience for visitors. Food and Hotel Arabia is a trade fair, which is being held since 1996. Initially it was launched as a food and beverage exhibition. The show has continually developed its profile in line with the demands of the Saudi market. The introduction of hotel and catering has, more recently, been followed by the inclusion of food processing and packaging to satisfy the demand of the Saudi food and beverage industry. The five-day event was organized by the Al-Harithy Company for Exhibitions Ltd and supported by the Organization of Islamic Conferences and Islamic Center for Development of Trade. Last year's show had 111 exhibitors from 18 countries, and attracted 11,500 trade visitors. __
