Africa-Press – Cape verde. The Cape Verde International Fair (FIC) 2023 takes place from the 15th to the 18th of November, in Praia, under the motto “Transforming difficulties into challenges”, with more than two hundred stands already sold out, it was announced this Tuesday.
The information was provided by the president of the FIC Board of Directors, Marcos Rodrigues, and by the Executive Administrator of FIC, Angélica Fortes, who spoke at a press conference held to detail the program of the event, which is now in its 26th edition.
On the occasion, Marcos Rodrigues highlighted FIC as an important instrument for the promotion of national and international companies, as well as for boosting economic activities in Cape Verde, bringing with it several international institutions, as well as businesspeople who come looking for the market, information and interaction with Cape Verdean businesspeople.
“It will be a unique opportunity for us to show Cape Verde to the world and, above all, to show what is good in Cape Verde and interact with what is good at an international level”, stated the FIC PCA.
In addition to Cape Verde, FIC has the participation of Portugal, France, Brazil and the United States of America.
Asked about the absence of African countries at the fair, the president of the Board of Directors said that a formula is being designed to bring African companies much closer to this event.
“Because the problem is not just Cape Verde, but it is the problem of companies in the ECOWAS space and the CPLP space itself, which have some difficulties in being able to interact in processes that have to do with business development in the countries”, he retorted.
“African industries are still not in the habit of exhibiting their products and business activities at large fairs”, he added, highlighting that the organization will begin, through a process with embassies and economic diplomacy itself, in order to be able to get closer of African countries and have a fair where you can really showcase what is done in Africa.
The official opening of the FIC will be on the 15th, but before that the event is preceded by a series of parallel actions, starting on the 13th, with the conference on the “digital transformation process of customs tax administration”.
On the 14th, the agenda includes a conference on the “main fiscal changes in the State Budget”, as announced by Marcos Rodrigues.
And on the 15th, he continued, preceding the inauguration of the Cape Verde International Fair, there will be another workshop on the “business environment in Cape Verde and reforms that are necessary”.
“On the 16th we will have the internationalization of Cape Verdean companies, an international conference on business formalization and financing and the edition of the Cape Verde International Fair, public visits and contacts with businesses”, he indicated.
On the 17th there will be another international conference, this time on arbitration, plus the edition of the Cape Verde International fair.
The last day of FIC, November 18th, will be reserved for another edition of the Cape Verde International Fair, with public visits and business contacts, to finally give way to the 10th edition of the Sotavento Chamber of Commerce Business Gala, which takes place on the same day.
“This year we designed the FIC with a layout with practically 210 stands and around 110 exhibitors that are already completely sold out”, said, in turn, the Executive Administrator of the FIC, Angélica Fortes, highlighting that the space was expanded to be able to accommodate more companies.
Of those registered, the administrator pointed out, 73% are Cape Verdean companies and 22% are Portuguese companies, highlighting that all sectors of the economy will be present in this edition, agribusiness, industry, commerce and services.
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