Latin America’s exhibition industry to gather in Mexico

Mexico will welcome exhibition industry leaders from across Latin America in late August for two major events: Reed Exhibitions Mexico’s ICOMEX and the AMPROFEC annual congress.

ICOMEX, a part of Reed’s global IBTM business event series, will take place on 24-26 August at Centro Banamex, Mexico City. It will be followed by the 18th edition of the Mexican Association of Professionals of Fairs, Expositions and Conventions’ (AMPROFEC) annual congress in San Luis Potosi on 26-29 August.

Global exhibition association UFI will take the opportunity to bring together its Latin American chapter on Friday 28 August.

The association will be represented by its president, Andrés López-Valderrama (Corferías, Bogotá); the three leaders of its Latin American chapter, Juan Pablo Maglier (La Rural, Buenos Aires), José Navarro (EJ Krause de México) and Ligia Amorim (NurnbergMesse Brasil); as well as Nick Dugdale-Moore from UFI’s Paris headquarters.

The general assembly of Latin American exhibition association AFIDA, also takes place during the congress.

“Mexico due to its strategic location, infrastructure and unique features, has been perceived in recent years as one of the most attractive markets in Latin America for the development of professional fairs,” said general manager of EJ Krause de México, José Navarro Meneses. “For this reason, the meeting of the Latin American chapter of UFI during the AMPROFEC Congress, which seeks to establish contact with the community of organisers of our country in order to enhance areas of cooperation and professional interaction, is of special importance.”

UFI’s Nick Dugdale-Moore said: “We are looking forward to our trip to Mexico, it is a great opportunity to strengthen our relationship with AMPROFEC and the leading industry players. I am so grateful to the leadership of the Latin American Chapter for their enthusiastic support. Their presence in San Luis demonstrates how important Mexico is to UFI’s plans, and our commitment to helping both the Mexican industry and its players grow in partnership with us.”

The association anticipates international activity in Latin America will grow over the next few years, reporting that most international organisers already have a presence in the region.

Last month Fira Barcelona announced a new partnership of its leading food show Alimentaria with ANTAD, Mexico’s largest point-of-sale network. Together they will launch ExpoANTAD and Alimentaria Mexico in March 2016.