The four-day Caribbean Food and Beverage Trade Show is set to take place at the Centre of Excellence in Macoya in Trinidad & Tobago, from June 28 to July 1. The event will include a trade show, conference, and a culinary festival.
The trade show is being organized through a collaboration with the Trinidad and Tobago Supermarket Association, the Caribbean Supermarket Association, Southex Event Management Company and the CARICOM Private Sector Organisation.
The goal of the event is to address issues of domestic and regional food and nutrition security, said Chairman of the Trinidad and Tobago Supermarket Association, Rajiv Diptee at the launch event on Wednesday, April 12.
“We firmly believe that when you look at the region’s food import bill that’s, at least I checked $6billion USD around the region, and Trinidad & Tobago accounts for $1billion USD of that, we tell ourselves we have to be able to pivot from that,” Diptee noted.
The trade show aims to be a catalyst in reducing a 25% reduction in the region’s food imports ideally by 2025, organizers said. This will be done by displacing overseas brands within the marketplace, while bolstering the region’s small and medium-sized businesses through strong marketing.
