Food industry tradeshow, Fine Food Australia, was officially opened 9 September by New South Wales (NSW) Deputy Premier and Minister for Regional NSW, The Hon John Barilaro MP.
The Exhibition and Events Association of Australia joined dignatories at the opening ceremony and discussed the importance of tradeshows as a driver for exports and regional development with the Deputy Premier. The show runs until 12 September at the ICC Sydney in Darling Harbour.
Fine Food Australia is now in its 33rd year and brings together all aspects of the country’s food industry: from food service and catering to retail and the import/export market. The event is a showcase of the latest products and attracts over 20,000 trade buyers from various industries and around 1,000 exhibiting companies.
This event is supported under International Marketing Activities Programme (iMAP).
This year, Minister Barilaro welcomed buyers and exhibitors to NSW and stressed the importance of the show and its power to drive exports and open up new markets for Australian producers.
He said that the drought was currently hitting farmers very hard so creating more markets for producers of Australian agricultural products was essential to the economy.
Exhibition and Events Association of Australia (EEAA) Chief Executive Joyce di Mascio said was clear from the show that consumers were driving demand for change in what we eat and drink. “Some of this is because of a greater desire to leave a smaller eco-footprint,” she said. “To this end,” she added, “we’ve reached an important milestone in our Sustainability initiative with our expert advisors, Environment Edge about to kick-off our member workshops to ‘co-design’ the action plan towards reducing the industry's ecological footprint.”
In other EEAA news, Leighton Wood, Chief Operating Officer of the Melbourne Convention and Exhibition Centre, has been announced as the EEAA’s new Vice-President.
Wood said he looked forward to working with the EEAA and its Board and members.
Over the past 18 months, Wood has spearheaded the sustainability leadership work of the EEAA and steered its Environmental Sustainability Working Group.
Photo: The Hon John Barilaro MP, Deputy Premier of NSW and Minnie Constan, Event Director Fine Food
