Azad-Hye, Dubai
Feb 26 2005

Armenia at Gulfood 2005

AZAD-HYE (26 February 2005):For the first time Armenia participated
this year with a national stand at the 10th Gulf Food, Hotel &
Equipment Exhibition, Dubai International Exhibition Centre, 20-23
February 2005.

The Armenian stand, which occupied more than 100 square meters, was
represented by 10 companies (see list), covering various food
producing domains (dairy products, meat, fish, dried foods, dietary
products, juices, conserves, canned foods, etc). The stand was
coordinated by a semi-governmental body called DAI-ASME (Armenia
Small and Medium Enterprise Market Development Project).

Armen Matosyan, Senior Marketing Advisor at DAI-ASME said that “it is
very significant that Armenia is occupying a separate stand in this
international exhibition. Our Agency has encouraged Armenian
companies to take part in this exhibition. We have sent informative
bulletin long before the due date. We have also created incentives
for participation, by covering 50% of the expenses of the Armenian
stand. Thus the average cost for exhibition space for each company
has been about 2000 dollars instead of 4000 dollars”.

Talking about future participation he said that his Agency might not
be sponsoring next Gulfood exhibition (due to take place from 19-22
February 2006). “We are effectively asking Armenian companies to get
used to the idea of bearing the cost of the marketing of their own
products, especially that now they have already achieved a degree of
penetration into the market”.

Lyudmila Hovahnnisyan of “Vordi Armen LLC” expressed initial
satisfaction about the UAE market. “We have received many inquiries.
I am collecting business cards in a separate folder and will answer
to all requests once I am back in Armenia. We produce many types of
cheeses. Our packaging system has been developed now and it is up to
the international standards”, she insists.

>From what we noticed the packaging of Armenian products have really
improved. Eight out of the ten exhibiting companies had attractive
labels. Only two (Tamar Tatik and Gamma) need to revise their
packaging and labeling methods.

Arkadi Gevorkyan, General Director of “Arkadzuk JSC” said that he
already received serious queries from hotel, supermarket chains,
airline catering companies, asking for trout and sturgeon fish
products. The company operates ten branches in Gumri, Masis and
Etchmiadzin.

Armen Hakobyan of “SIS Natural Cannery Ltd” said that his company
intends to participate next year even if it has to pay all the
participating expenses. “It is extremely important to meet our
clients in Dubai and discuss ways of improving our exporting
capabilities”. He had hired this year an Armenian translator and
coordinator from Dubai, to assist him in dealing with the flow of
customers.

Edward Dilanyan, President of “Vitamax-E LLC” said that his dietary
product Narine is truly unique and is the result of laboratory work
in Armenia. Referring to the Exhibition he said “Dubai is a place
where you can meet clients from many countries. This is why we
concentrate on this Exhibition”.

The DAI-ASME stand was hosting tourist material provided by the
Armenian Tourism Development Agency. People were so much interested
to know this new destination that the printed material on Armenia
expired on the very first day of the exhibition. Newcomers were still
asking for material and were even satisfied with the remaining
Italian and German language brochures.

“Very few Armenians from the UAE made the effort to come and see our
products” concluded Armen Matosyan his interview with Azad-Hye.com.
“We are sad that Armenians did not have the curiosity to see our
stand and to encourage our producers”.

Philip Smith, Senior Area Manager of the influential “Khaleej Times”
English language daily of Dubai visited the Armenian stand and
received the attention of the organizers. They invited him to visit
Armenia to see the beauty of the country and to confirm the purity of
the Armenian products. From his side he expressed belief that Armenia
will benefit from its proximity to the UAE market and will improve
its exporting record.

From: Emil Lazarian | Ararat NewsPress