Odisha MSME International Trade Fair-2018 to begin on March 5

Bhubaneswar: Odisha MSME International Trade Fair-2018 will be held with a focus on food processing sector from March 5-10.

The trade fair will be inaugurated by Chief Minister and attended by more than 500 domestic and international delegates.

The final preparatory meeting in this regard was held under the chairmanship of MSME Minister Prafulla Samal on Monday. It was attended by department secretary L.N. Gupta and all other relevant stakeholders.

On this occasion, Gupta informed that the trade fair will have more than 350 stalls divided into 06 pavilions.

The theme pavilion will be devoted to the food processing sector, Pavilion-1 will be an international pavilion for the international exhibitors and CPSUs.

Pavilion 2 is earmarked for food processing and seafood MSME units and Pavilion 3 will be earmarked for the MSMEs led by women and ST/SC Entrepreneurs. Similarly, Pavilion 4 is reserved for MSMEs working in Engineering & allied sector, Pavilion-5 will be allotted to startups and exporters. CPSUs like, NALCO, IOCL, Ordnance Factory; State PSUs like OMC, GRIDCO, IPICOL, central organisations namely, MPEDA, Coir Board, QCI and GEM have already confirmed their participation.

Gupta further added that on the sidelines of MSME Trade Fair, seminars on the MSME related topics will be held for the benefit of Micro and Small Entrepreneurs.

On the 6th March, the seminar will be held on “Credit & Marketing Linkage to MSMEs & Exporters”. On the 7th March, it will be on “Boosting MSME Business through ZED, GEM, IPR and Digital Marketing”. On 8th March, which is International Women’s Day, the seminar will be on “Development of MSMEs with Focus on Women and ST/SC Entrepreneurs/Startups”. On the 9th March, it will be on the “Potential of Food Processing in Odisha with Focus on Packaging”.

On the last day, the seminar will be on the “Mission-1000 Startups-Way Forward”.

The seminars are likely to be addressed by Arun Panda, MSME secretary, Government of India, J.P. Meena, Food Processing secretary, Sundeep Nayak, MD, NCDC etc. amongst others.

The trade fair will have added attraction of various Odia and continental cuisine. 15 food stalls are being set up by the reputed hotels and restaurants in the trade fair.