After the great success of Virtual agrofood & plastprintpack Africa (www.Virtual-Africa.net) in November 2020, the German trade show specialist fairtrade Messe (www.fairtrade-messe.de) is launching another digital format with the Virtual for all Middle East Africa (www.Virtual-MEA.net) from 31 May to 02 June 2021. The organisers' aim with this event is to contribute to deepening global relations with the Middle East and Africa in the agrofood & plastprintpack sector.

A brief review of November's Virtual for all Africa also gives an indication of what participants at the new event can expect. A total of 2,353 registered participants from 87 countries attended. 64 exhibitors from 17 countries received 8,783 visits to their virtual stands and their products were consulted 2,008 times. 3,540 visitors attended 67 panel discussions, presentations and product demos with a total of 98 speakers. These facts, together with high satisfaction scores on both the exhibitor and visitor side, have made Virtual for all Africa the most important agrofood & plastprintpack online event with an Africa focus.

“30 years of experience in organising international trade fairs in the Middle East and 25 years in Africa enable us to establish the new Virtual for all Middle East Africa on a solid footing. At the same time, we are going down innovative digital paths so that our exhibitors and attendees can communicate and do business in the best possible way," explains Martin März, fairtrade founder and managing partner.

And fairtrade managing director Paul März outlines: “Virtual for all MEA 2021 will benefit from two innovations: Firstly, in addition to our proven partners in the Maghreb and in West and East Africa, we are setting further regional focuses. In Africa with Egypt and South Africa and in the Middle East with Saudi Arabia, UAE, Iran, Iraq, Jordan, Oman, Qatar, Kuwait and Bahrain.

And secondly will we complement the award-winning event platform we already used for Virtual for all Africa 2020 by a mobile app that will bring notifications regarding appointments between exhibitors and attendees directly to the smartphones, helping to ensure that agreed B2B appointments actually happen."

Participation for visitors is complimentary. Exhibitors can choose between various exhibitor and sponsorship packages.

Relevant content & inspiring speakers in panel sessions, presentations & product demos

In addition to the B2B meetings, Virtual for all Middle East Africa 2021 will offer a large-scale conference programme extending over the entire three days addressing relevant and currently highly debated topics.

Focus on investment in agrofood & plastprintpack in Middle East Africa

For three days, the focus will be on Middle East Africa and on agricultural production, food and beverage technology, food ingredients, food trade, as well as plastic, printing and packaging materials, raw materials and technology.

• agro: To diversify Africa’s economies and revive its rural areas, the African Development Bank (AfDB) has committed US$ 24 billion towards agricultural industrialization. According to the German Engineering Federation VDMA, MEA's agricultural machinery imports amount to well over €2 billion annually.

• food + bev tec: Imports of food processing & packaging technology account for €4.683 billion in 2019 (VDMA)

• food ingredients: With 1.6 billion inhabitants, MEA has long been one of largest food markets in the world. Expenditure in the F&B sector is growing steadily, and F&B production is by far the largest segment of the MEA processing industry.

• food + hospitality: According to the African Development Bank, MEA’s annual food imports are estimated to rise from US$ 85 billion to US$ 170 billion by 2025.

• plast: Since the Middle East is a huge exporter of plastics in primary forms, and Africa only produces 39% of its required plastic raw materials itself but imports 61%, the Middle East & Africa fit very well together to outbalance their needs. African Imports of plastics raw materials, for instance, grew by 5.9% annually between 2011 and 2017, from 4,220 kt to 5,939 kt, +41%. And the Middle East’s exports of such material grew from 16,607 kt in 2011 to 25,280 kt in 2017, an annual increase of 7.25%. (EUROMAP) MEA’s imports of plastics technology made up for €1,779 billion in 2019. (VDMA)

• print: MEA’s imports of printing & paper processing technology represent €1,368 billion in 2018, up 7.8 per cent to 2017. (VDMA)

• pack: MEA’s imports of packaging technology make up for €2.291 billion in 2019, +3.2% compared with 2018. (VDMA)