Since 16 May, the 24th Azerbaijan International Food Industry Exhibition, WorldFood Azerbaijan 2018 and the 12th Azerbaijan International Agriculture Exhibition, Caspian Agro 2018 will open their doors. Over the years, the exhibitions recommended itself like a reliable platform for traditional meetings between experts, and demonstrations of equipment, goods and services for the food and agriculture industry. These events additionally provide an opportunity to find customers, strengthen existing relationships with business partners, and expand to new markets. For many years now, the President of the Republic of Azerbaijan Mr. Ilham Aliyev has visited the exhibitions to acquaint himself with innovations that producers and distributors offer in the Azerbaijani market. Over a number of years, the Ministry of Agriculture of the Republic of Azerbaijan has provided invaluable support to the WorldFood Azerbaijan and Caspian Agro exhibitions. For the first time this year, the Caspian Agro exhibition has received support from the Food and Agriculture Organisation of the UN (FAO). The events are also supported by the National Confederation of Entrepreneurs (Employers) Organizations of the Republic of Azerbaijan (AEC), and the Azerbaijan Export and Investments Promotion Foundation (AZPROMO).
Today the agricultural and food industries are the fast-growing and promising sectors of economy, and these exhibitions reflect on these growth trends by demonstrating record-breaking statistics; this year’s WorldFood Azerbaijan and Caspian Agro exhibitions have shown a 12 per cent growth, both in the number of participants and occupied exhibition space. These exhibitions currently rank 2nd on the list of special events held throughout the region. Housed in two halls and outdoor space of Baku Expo Centre, the exhibitions are attended by 402 companies from 34 countries. 70% of these companies are foreign, while 30% are local producers and distributors. The landmark of exhibitions is the fact that they are attended by large national delegations supported by the chambers of commerce and industry of these countries. This year the exhibitions will be attended by 11 national and regional delegations from 10 different countries.
WORLDFOOD AZERBAIJAN 2018
Being the main exhibition of the country’s food industry, WF will showcase a wide range of products of 207 companies from 20 different countries. The national stands will be presented by Belarus, Latvia, Greece, Turkey, Sri Lanka, Italy, while the regional stands will represent Altai Krai, Kabardino-Balkaria and Astrakhan (Russia). 35% of total participants are going to exhibit for the first time.
It is pleasing that Azerbaijani companies are actively engaged at the exhibition, proudly representing the “Made in Azerbaijan” brand: «Amoris», «Astara Chay», «Azersun Holding», «Azmeat», «Azqranata», «Bal Hoorma», «CAN-PA», «Gilan Holding», «Goy-Gol», «Ozdad» and others. For the first time, Azerbaijan Food Safety Agency, which this year supports the exhibition and the stand of the Center for Simplified Support for Family Business (ABAD) will participate at the exhibition.
As usual, the WorldFood Azerbaijan exhibition will bring together several exhibitors and feature various themes: food industry (WorldFood), beverages (WorldDrink), technology (WorldFoodTech). In the WorldFood section the main exhibitors will be producers of dairy and confectionary products, canned food, groceries, ingredients, and exporters of fruits and vegetable. WorldFoodTech will exhibit cooling, bakery equipment, technology for product storage, among many other things. WorldDrink is distinguished with its wide range of drinks and juices, and types and brands of tea will also be the focus of this exhibition. Various tea packages of Ceylon tea will be presented by the Sri Lanka Tea Board, which for the third consecutive year has headed a group of Ceylon tea producers from Sri Lanka. Azerbaijan at the exhibition will present a wide selection of local tea brands by various local producers.
The exhibitors have carefully prepared for the exhibition and brought a lot of new products that will soon be stocked at the store shelves. Visitors will have an opportunity to get acquainted with new product lines of cheese, ice cream, curdle products, tea, sweets, convenience meat products, sauces, baby food and many other things. All new items are available on the website under the section Catalogue of New Products.
WorldFood Azerbaijan will take place alongside the Caspian International Packaging, Tare, Label and Printing Ipack Caspian 2018. Compared with last year, the number of exhibitors and the range of offered products have significantly increased. Exhibitors from Azerbaijan, Italy, Russia, Turkey and other countries will take part at this year’s exhibition. Cargo containers and packaging, raw materials and items for its production, packing machines, mechanisms for pre-packaging and packaging of bulk and single products will be offered to visitors as part of the exhibition. Also, exhibitors will present to visitors warehouse facilities and special equipment that ensures the product safety in storage and transportation. Printing on the packaging and picking the right technology for this process play an important role in the general technology lifecycle of production. Therefore, the exhibition presents printing equipment that features various modern methods.
CASPIAN AGRO 2018
The 12th Azerbaijan International Agriculture Exhibition, Caspian Agro 2018 has recorded a 15 per cent increase this year in both the number of participants and occupied exhibition space, once again defending its title as the region's largest event to view the latest trends in agricultural machinery, advanced agriculture technologies in vegetable farming, fruit farming, vine growing and veterinary medicine.
This year’s Caspian Agro 2018 will bring together a record number of participants: 195 manufacturers and distributors of agricultural goods and equipment from 28 different countries. Companies from Azerbaijan, Germany, Israel, Spain, Italy, Belarus, Russia, the USA, Turkey and other countries will demonstrate the best from worldwide and domestic experience. Georgia, the Netherlands and China will exhibit national stands at this exhibition. It is gratifying that this year many companies from various countries will make their debut appearance at the exhibition. Currently such companies make up 31% of the total number of participants. As a country, Vietnam will make its debut appearance at the Caspian Agro 2018 exhibition. Registration sponsor of the Caspian Agro 2018 exhibition is Maschio Gaspardo.
Today the agriculture of Azerbaijan is steadily developing in many areas. In this regard, the exhibition will cover various relevant fields of agriculture and provide participants with an opportunity to get acquainted with a number of innovations in such sectors as poultry farming equipment, greenhouse equipment, greenhouse farming, livestock equipment, animal feed, seeds, nursery-gardens, mineral fertilizers, agricultural equipment, veterinary drugs, laboratory equipment, modern agro-technology and many other things.
A good news about the exhibition is that “Made in Azerbaijan” brand will be presented along with other foreign brands. Greenhouses, irrigation system, fruits and vegetables, pesticides and many other things will be presented under this brand.
The agricultural machinery will occupy both the indoor and outdoor areas of Baku Expo Centre. Apart from agricultural machinery, Gilan and Klinger will also be exhibited on the open ground, which will exhibit improved breeds of domestic animals.
Main focus of the exhibition will be on innovations introduced in agricultural machinery and equipment which are designed to ensure the application of the most intensive methods to increase the crop productivity, improve animal breeding and to mechanize and automate the farmer labour. The list of innovations at this year's exhibition includes: new types of tractors, allowing to harvest a crop without loss; advanced greenhouses, which allow growing crops twice a year; Italian tractors for gardens and small agricultural farms; beet harvester ROPA; various types of fertilizers; a wide range of veterinary drugs; OSMOS technology based water filtration system for greenhouses; a medicine for prevention of wild and narrow-leaved grasses; nurseries of modern and high-quality varieties of almond, cherry trees, apple trees, new varieties of peach, nectarine and apricot from Spain and many other things. The electronic catalogue of new products is available on the website of the exhibition www.caspianagro.az.
ADDITIONAL EVENTS AND BUSINESS PROGRAMME
All innovations for this exhibition will be displayed in the New Products Showcase section which is a new feature at this exhibition. The purpose of the event is to offer participants an additional opportunity to meet with leading local companies to present and discover new products and services; explore new business opportunities; and to meet potential customers and exchange with business experience. As part of this project the exhibitors will demonstrate their novelties, and visitors of the exhibition will be the first to see and even test these new products. More than 20 companies will benefit from an additional opportunity to highlight their new products and services and get the attention of the professional audience for further cooperation. Each showcase will contain detailed information about the product, and the stand number will instruct how to find the manufacturer at the exhibition. For example, “Astara Chay” will make a direct presentation at the exhibition about their completely new tea package, and visitors of WorldFood Azerbaijan and Caspian Agro will be the first to taste the new product.
This year's exhibitions will differ with their diverse and comprehensive business programme. On the second day of exhibitions, B2B meetings will be held at Baku Expo Centre, which will be another opportunity for holding business meetings and negotiations with several key customers in a matter of one day. The meetings will be attended by foreign and local manufacturers and distributors, and representatives of retail chains.
The 1st Baku International Conference on Food Security to be held on May 18 at the Boulevard Hotel will certainly become a landmark event. The conference which will be organized jointly with the Food Security Agency of the Republic of Azerbaijan, the Delegation of the European Union in Azerbaijan and the World Bank Representative Office in Azerbaijan, will touch upon the most pressing issues on this topic. As part of this conference, the Ambassador of the EU to Azerbaijan Mr. Kestutis Jankauskas, the Chairman of the Food Security Agency of Azerbaijan Goshkar Tahmazli and other representatives of relevant local and foreign agencies will make their speech.
Moreover, a number of workshops will be held at the exhibitions. Organisers have always welcomed and supported the participation of start-ups at these exhibitions. This year, for the first time, start-ups will present their projects at the WorldFood Azerbaijan and Caspian Agro exhibitions. Thus, Azerbaijan State Oil and Industry University will present its initiatives called start-ups of Garden X and Smart Greenhouse in the foyer of the Expo Centre. Newcomers will be happy to talk about all the benefits of their new business projects. Also in the foyer, another start-up Tasty Baku will share its grand thoughts about creating corporate gifts.
CONVENIENT SERVICE FOR PARTICIPANTS AND VISITORS
To save time during the registration at Baku Expo Center, all visitors are recommended to benefit from the online registration service using the Fast Track website. Early registration will also allow you to quickly receive a list of participants, information on exhibitions, and a schedule of related business events. Participants will have a free access to the Business and Press Centre, and small cafes and restaurants, including a charging station for mobile phones, will also be available at Baku Expo Center. This year the organisers have started to cooperate with the network of kindergartens Bagcam.az that will create a children's playground at the exhibition, where children can be safely left while parents are busy with visiting the exhibition stands. Children's Playground will be located in the foyer of Baku Expo Center. Here professional educators and teachers from Bagcam.az will take care of your children and will entertain them with educational games, as well as various useful and exciting activities.
Organisers have a plan to continue with their conventional project “Because We Care” that is introduced as part of the exhibitions. This time the craftsmen have prepared hand-made products reflecting the themes of the exhibitions. These hand-made products include jewellery and accessories, natural soap and organic make-up, bags, accessories and interior decorations, developing books, tablets and many other things. They will be exhibited in the foyer of the Baku Expo Centre. Also in the foyer you will see unique handmade products by the Sandiqcha brand. Each brand product (accessories, scarves, baskets and many other things) reflects the cultural heritage of Azerbaijan.
For several years WorldFood Azerbaijan 2018 has been a sign of quality of the international exhibition community UFI (Global Association of the Exhibition Industry). The events are organised by Iteca Caspian (WorldFood Azerbaijan) and Caspian Event Organisers (Caspian Agro). Among exhibition’s 2018 partners are travel agency Premier Tour; the official hotels “Hyatt Regency” and “Qafqaz Hotels & Resorts”. Thus, the WorldFood Azerbaijan 2018 and Caspian Agro 2018 exhibitions will once again become a meeting place for specialists in the food and agricultural industries. New products in the industry, business contacts obtained at the exhibition, meetings with governmental organisations involved in the process of a new stage of development of the agricultural sector, and experience of foreign colleagues will contribute to the competitiveness of the Azerbaijan food and agricultural products in the food market, and the growth of investments.