Business
New German joint venture for trade fairs
By Our Special Correspondent
NEW DELHI, DEC. 8. Trade fairs and gigantic conference centres have become a norm in most countries as a way of marketing products in a big way. India is trying to catch up and foreign companies are now entering the business to bring global levels of excellence to the country's exhibitions. One such entrant which is launching a series of trade fairs this year is Cidex, a joint venture of Germany's Messe Duesseldorf and Koln Messe International.
According to the Managing Director of Cidex, Mr. Norbert M. Schmidt, the company's aim is to take up exhibition themes common to the German trade fair giants and develop them in tune with the Indian market. The main areas where Cidex is planning independent exhibitions are metallurgy, medicine, packaging and food technology, printing machinery, mining and construction machinery, chemicals, fashion, furniture and electronic consumer goods.
Mr. Schmidt told The Hindu that the German trade fair companies decided to set up the joint venture to handle business in this country because India was becoming a big emerging market along with China. Messe Duesseldorf, for instance, already had two operations in China and also owned a trade fair ground at Pudong in Shanghai with two other leading trade fair companies. The joint venture will enable both companies to attract foreign exhibitors through the network of trade fairs already being held under their label.
Cidex has already lined up a full calendar of events for the coming months, he disclosed. These will be kicked off by Foundrex 2002 to be held between February 1 and 3 in Goa which will focus on foundry technology, equipment, supplies and castings. This will be followed by two simultaneous events in Chennai from February 9 to 12.
These will be Indpack 2002 Internationl, the second international exhibition and conference for the packaging industry and the International Foodtec India 2002, the international exhibition for food technology and processing.
In addition, there will be a Delhi-based specialised international exhibition on medical and hospital equipment and supplies, termed as Hospimedica India 2002. Mr. Schmidt said Cidex was also planning to make Hyderabad a major venue for exhibitions. This would be held by the establishment of a new fairground of international standards to be owned by the State Government, L and T Infocity and National Academy of Constructions in Andhra Pradesh. One of the joint venture partners, Messe Duesseldorf, had carried out a feasibility into technical services, knowhow and finance needed for the new fairground, he said.
As the next step, he said, Cidex was likely to manage and market the new exhibition area known as Hitex (Hyderabad International Trade Exposition Limited). The contract between Hitex and Cidex was likely to be a long term period. Cidex would also develop APEX (Andhra Pradesh Exhibitions) as a trade fair company. Outlining the Germany company's future plans, Mr. Schmidt said it expected to organise about 27 different trade shows by 2005. Nearly 90 per cent of these would be in Hyderabad while the balance would be in Mumbai, Delhi and Chennai.
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