Press Note
Rongili Barta- North East India shares a long border with the South East Asian countries and this has immense trade opportunities. For promotion of these emerging opportunities, the Indian Trade Promotion Organisation (ITPO), the premier trade promotion organisation under the flagship of Ministry of Commerce and Industry, Government of India, has setup the Maniram Dewan Trade Centre at Guwahati. The State-of-the-Art facilities was created with beautiful architecture and modern facilities, equipped with 3 (three) centrally Air-conditioned exhibition halls of 10,000 Sq.ft. each, conference rooms with a capacity of 20 and 100, parking lots, provision for amphitheatre etc besides VIP lounge and open field area of around 1.30 lakh sq.ft. The facilities were further boosted by adding a 400-seater well-furnished modern Auditorium. The Government with a view to manage the Maniram Dewan Trade Centre and all future Trade Centres of the State had formed a Company on 17 th February’2009 and named it as “Assam Trade Promotion Organisation” as approved by the Register of Companies. Assam Trade promotion Organisation is a non- profit self-sustaining company registered under Section 25 of Companies Act’1956 under administrative control of Industries, Commerce & Public Enterprise Department, Govt of Assam. ATPO& main objectives is to promote, organize, manage and participate in trade, fairs and exhibitions to enhance trade in the North Easter region. ATPO as part of its mandate for the first time participated in the “Thessaloniki International Trade Fair” at Greece during 10 th Sept’2011 to 18 th Sept’2011 wherein 11 women entrepreneurs from different districts of Assam exhibited their products in international market. The entrepreneurs showcased the traditional Handloom, Handicraft and herbal soaps along with Eri & Muga product of the state. The trade fair provided a platform to the local entrepreneurs to obtain an export opportunity. However, Since the outbreak of the COVID-19 Pandemic, the impact on Exhibition Industry has been unprecedented. Many private parties have cancelled their regular fairs and some are still reluctant to organise fairs resulting in lack of trade opportunities for the local MSME units. In order to help the local MSMEs, it was decided that ATPO will organise trade fairs/ expo at different occasions for the benefit of the local MSME units. Accordingly, ATPO proposed to organise two trade fairs in the financial year 2022-23. ATPO has already organised “ATPO Nalbari Trade Expo2022” from 08 th Nov’22 to 19 Nov’22 during Shri Shri Hari Mandir Rash Festival Nalbari. At the Nalbari expo, 50 (fifty) MSME units from different districts of the Assam were given ready use stalls free of cost for display and sale of their products. MSME units having different product profiles like handloom, handicraft, food items, ayurvedic products etc. participated in the Nalbari expo. Moreover, Jute Corporation of India exhibited in the expo to sell and display their products along with distribution of environment friendly jute face masks. Silk mark India, a Govt of India Organisation has also participated in the Nalbari expo to exhibit their products. The participants of Nalbari Trade Expo had done business worth more than Rs. 1 Crore. ATPO is organising “ATPO International Winter Expo’2022” w.e.f 23 December’2022 to 5 th January 2023 in association with National Small Industries Corporation (NSIC) and Industries, Commerce & Public Enterprise Department, Govt. of Assam. Around 150 MSME units,11 Start Ups, Assam Agribusiness and Rural Transformation Project (APART), CFC (Common facility Centre, Assamese jewellery), NEDfi (North Eastern Development Finance Corporation), Central Institute of Petrochemicals Engineering & Technology (CIPET) are participating in the expo. There will also be international participants from Bangladesh, Bhutan & Afganistan. It may be mentioned that in order to promote tourism, export and commerce, the Assistant High Commissioner of Bangladesh and Royal Bhutanese Consulate General have also given their consent to participate in the expo as there is huge scope for trade with these neighboring countries. To familiarize different participants/ visitors (both local and international) about local food habits of different tribes, few stall on ethnic food will also be accommodated. The cultural evening by different artists of Assam is also a major attraction of the expo. Assam Trade Promotion Organisation is also planning to organize three fairs in the financial Year 2023-24. Out of three fairs one fair will be regional to accommodate participants from entire Nort Eastern region, one international fair to tap the export opportunities and one fair exclusively for entrepreneurs from the State of Assam. We expect full support from all of you to make the events successful.