DAR ES SALAAM, July 13 (Xinhua) -- Tanzania's Zanzibar President Hussein Ali Mwinyi on Thursday officially closed the 16-day 47th Dar es Salaam International Trade Fair (DITF) and urged local traders to produce high-quality goods for regional and global markets.
"You should get well prepared for the new market in the African Continental Free Trade Area (AfCFTA)," said Mwinyi, adding that he was impressed to see that products displayed during the 47th DITF were of high quality.
He also challenged local traders to capture the markets in the East African Community (EAC) and the Southern African Development Community (SADC).
"Tanzania has already secured a market in Algeria for its coffee under the AfCFTA arrangement. This is good news, and we should aim for more," said Mwinyi, urging the Tanzania Trade Development Authority (TanTrade), organizers of the trade fair, to help traders look for more markets for their goods.
Mwinyi, who inspected some of the pavilions, praised the East Africa Commercial and Logistics Center (EACLC), the main sponsor of the 47th DITF, for making the trade fair successful.
He presented trophies and certificates of recognition to local and foreign exhibitors that showed outstanding performance in more than 20 categories, including communications, manufacturing, banking, higher education, logistics, real estate, health insurance, and transportation.
He also awarded EACLC for its main sponsorship of the trade fair, and seven other sponsors.
Latifa Khamis, the director general of TanTrade, said the 47th DITF attracted 3,233 local exhibitors and 267 foreign exhibitors from 17 countries across the world.
Khamis added that 3 million people visited the trade fair that opened its doors on June 28 and concluded on July 13.
A total of nine memorandums of understanding (MoUs) were signed on cotton, sisal, and some universities established cooperation on exchange programs on agriculture, agribusiness, and food science, she said.
Khamis said during the trade fair, sales to the tune of 3.8 billion Tanzanian shillings (about 1.6 million U.S. dollars) were made, adding that 16.68 billion shillings worth of orders were placed during business-to-business meetings.
Tanzania's Zanzibar Minister of Trade and Industrial Development Omar Said Shaaban said Zanzibar has already started working on the establishment of an international trade fair on the islands.
