With the COVID-19 pandemic challenging the international community to find ways around the restraints imposed by social distancing, there is evidence that some countries are already embracing technology to arrive as close as they can to a condition of normalcy insofar as interaction associated with bringing buyers and consumers together is concerned.
Earlier this month saw a novel engagement between a number of fresh-produce companies from Africa and Eastern Europe – trading in fruit, vegetables and other agricultural commodities – participating in a unique online edition of a popular fruit and vegetable trade fair.
Experts from the Geneva-based Inter-national Trade Centre (ITC) provided the technical support necessary to enable the participating groups to be part of the novel format of the United Fresh LIVE! event, comprising virtual booths, chat functions, and digital marketing material.
What can well be a template for Guyana and the rest of the Caribbean to embrace saw participants from the Euro-pean Union, the East African Community (EAC), the East Africa-based Market Access Upgrade Programme (MARKUP) and the ITC’s She Trades initiative, team up on a lively webinar to discuss approaches to engaging with buyers and potential partners and approaches to the use of ‘booth chat’ functions.
The EU-EAC MARKUP booth featured fresh produce from Kenya, Rwanda and Tanzania including avocados and avocado products, beans and peas, Caribbean chillies, mangos, passion fruit, green, red, and yellow bell peppers, Ravaya aubergines, ginger, and herbs.
She Trades Commonwealth supported the participation of 20 women-led small and medium-sized enterprises in the horticulture and spices sectors.
In its support for exhibitors from Africa and Eastern Europe, ITC provided daily support, created business catalogues, and helped ‘build’ the virtual booths.
Four booths representing companies and trade promotion organisations from Armenia, Azerbaijan, Georgia, and Ukraine, were supported by two ITC projects: the European Union-funded ‘Eastern Partnership: Ready to Trade’ – an EU4Business initiative and a Swedish-funded fruit and vegetable project in the south of Ukraine. Collectively, ‘booths’ mounted by those countries featured freeze-dried berries, jams and marinades, and organic berries, as well as such products as berry fillings and fillers, syrups and toppings, drinks, sweets, purees including baby food, and snacks.
