“I want our participants not only to look at their own market but to look at their own colleagues to keep far more mutually partnership in order to save Thailand as the kitchen of the world,” said Thai Deputy Prime Minister for Economy Somkid Jatusripitak at the opening ceremony hailing his country as a key player in the global food industry.
Underlining that Thailand should make efforts to remain among the top five world markets exporting food products, Jatusripitak said the exhibition aims to build the future of the food industry through innovation in all related areas such as research, quality, packaging, agriculture, food safety and standard.
He stated that the Thai food industry generated $2.6 billion for the nation in 2015 export revenues, representing over 12% of the GDP.
More than 1,900 upstream, midstream and downstream firms involved in the food industry from some 40 countries are participating in what Thai Ministry of Commerce officials call ‘Asia's largest food expo.’
Many exhibitors from Muslim and non-Muslim countries from South America, Europe, particularly from north and east Asia as well as those from Southeast Asia have put on display their food items with the ‘Halal’ sign as a symbol indicating observation of Islamic teachings in their production.
The mega expo, running from May 25 to 29 in an area of 90,000 square meters, is expected to draw 38,000 visitors to the IMPACT Exhibition and Convention Center. According to organizers, a cooking competition with more than 1,000 chefs from 15 countries will take place during the event. Turkey, despite being a Eurasian country, has an active participation in the section.
There is also a coffee zone where there is a couple of world barista champions preparing coffee able to do 3D designs for coffee and make the milk into something you have never seen.
PT