Under the auspices of the Ministry of Agriculture, Forestry and Water Management of the Republic of Serbia, the Ethnic Food and Drink Fair takes place on November 27 – 30, at Belgrade Fair. The organizers of this fifth review are Belgrade Fair and Serbian Chamber of Commerce, whereas the Belgrade Chamber of Commerce and Agrobanka are the event sponsors.

‘The Ethnic Product Brand Name Foundation’ is this year’s slogan of
the Ethnic Food and Drink Fair, featuring more than 200 manufacturers of specialties and products made by special traditional recipes in limited quantities.

Announcing this specific event, Mr. Gavrilo Veselinovic, President of the Ethnic Food and Drink Fair Council, said the Fair took place, in spite of the difficult economic situation and it was a branch that might take improvement to the entire economy. Mr. Veselinovic also said the objective of the Ethnic Food and Drink Fair was promotion of the national products, finding buyers and new markets, and the attempt to mass some ‘small productions’ should not be neglected, either.

On behalf of the Ministry of Agriculture, Forestry and Water Management of the Republic of Serbia, the event patron, Mr. Branislav Raketic said the food product market was very important, since the consumers were looking for authentic and traditional products as regarding their origin or production method. Quality was an additional value of these products and the visitors could see and taste 28 products with the protected geographic origin this year.

With the remark there was a difference between the protected products and the protected production, Mr. Raketic also announced a more efficient control of these products and invited all shop chains and catering facilities to establish business cooperation with the manufacturers of traditional specialties at this event.

Mr. Milan Kuznik from the Serbian Chamber of Commerce also spoke at the Press Conference announcing the Ethnic Food and Drink Fair, saying the Chamber supported the return to the agriculture and tried to assist in including as many regions into this project as possible. He reminded the agriculture was the only branch having a positive balance in the foreign trade exchange and an additional engagement in the export quality raising was necessary – instead of the export of agricultural products, one should be reoriented to the export of products having a higher level of the technological processing, even the export of final products.

-About twenty regions will attend the Ethnic Food and Drink Fair and representative manufacturers will feature their specialties within them, said Ms. Mirjana Lukic, Project Manager.
-The participants this year are also the ethnic product equipment and packaging manufacturers and they all have the same objective – buyer finding, national specialties promotion, the name, recipes and geographic origin protection. The Fair is primarily intended for business visitors, but its important role is also the transfer of traditional recipes and knowledge, as well as the meeting with the general audience.

A professional side event program has been prepared within this event, but also a promotional one, taking place at the exhibitors’ stands and in the already traditional Ethnic Yard.

SERVICE INFORMATION

The event takes place on November 27 – 30. On the first three days, the opening hours are from 10.00 am to 7.00 pm, and on the closing date from 10.00 am to 5.00 pm.

The Fair takes place in the Hall 3. The Festive opening is on Saturday, November 27, at 11.00 am.

The entry for the business visitors is free of charge, subject to filling in the record list or leaving a business card. The tickets for general audience cost RSD.250.00.