The New Nation - Internet Edition

ECONOMIC REPORTER

The 13th Dhaka International Trade Fair (DITF), organised by Export Promotion Bureau (EPB) at Sher-e-Bangla Nagar in the city, concluded yesterday with the extension of one week.

Adviser for Education and Commerce Dr Hossain Zillur Rahman formally declared the conclusion of the DITF 2008 as the chief guest.

During the 38 days of DITF, it fetched sales worth Tk 25 crore and received export orders amounting Tk 40 crore.

The EPB sources said more than 50 lakh people visited the fair and entry tickets worth Tk 2 crore were sold.

Compared to the previous years, selling of goods at this year's fair was not so encouraging. Participants at the pavilions and stalls attributed the discouraging sales to the economic sluggishness prevailing in the country. However, the selling of electronics, cosmetics, cell phone sets and household goods was 30 per cent higher than previous year.

Goods worth Tk 25 crore were sold during the 38 days of the fair. Besides, export orders worth Tk 40 crore were received at the DITF this year. Moreover, value added tax (VAT) worth Tk 40 lakh on sales at the fair were deposited till yesterday and the amount was two and a half times higher than previous year.

A large number of visitors visited the fair yesterday, the last day of the fair, which was participated by 15 organisations from seven foreign countries.

Among the participants, six organizations of Pakistan took part in the DITF, while India's three organizations participated in the fair. As a partner country, Thailand built a special pavilion at this year's trade fair. Other participating countries were Japan, Singapore, Turkey and the United States.

Besides, a total of 395 organisations of Bangladesh took part in the fair and exhibited their export-oriented products.

Since the state of emergency now prevails in the country, special security measures were taken for this year's trade fair. There were as many as 40 close-circuit television cameras installed around the fair. Several security personnel monitored the movements of visitors at the DITF sitting inside three rooms.

The traffic department gave lease the parking lot of the fair at Tk 8.26 lakh. According to the traffic department, some Tk 50,000 were earned per day from parking of vehicles at the DITF premises this year. However, the income went down to k 20,000 due to inclement weather for four days.

There were huge dust, lack of water in the toilets, parking problems and complaints of charging exorbitantly at the food shops.