Vibrant Africa: A Continent of Business Opportunities

[Guest]

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[Leslie]

African Fair 2008 is taking place in Yokohama, Japan from May 28 to June 1.
Here is a link to the website:

http://www.jetro.go.jp/bizafrica/africanfair/

(sorry, Japanese only)

If you know anyone in Japan, please pass this information on to them.
And if there are any KFs from Japan reading this, please take a look.

There will be 40 countries participating, and I'm sure it will be very exciting.

Maybe I will see you there.
Leslie

[Leslie]

An update: spent 3 wonderful hours yesterday visiting 40 African countries....it was pretty amazing. Looking at all the different products on display was interesting enough, but I wanted more than anything to meet and talk with the people. One thing I felt from absolutely everyone...the people I talked with and those I didn't...was pride in their country, pride in their people and pride in themselves.

I took tons of pictures and collected tons of brochures....now to sit down and pore through all of them....

It really made ME feel proud that I am helping in my own small way through Kiva.

[KivanSteven]

Leslie, is this an annual event in Japan, or does this African fair move around from place to place?  Just curious.

[Leslie]

This fair is being held concurrently with the 4th TICAD (Tokyo International Conference on African Development). The first TICAD was held in 1993...for more detail, please access http://www.ticad.net/archive.shtml

So to answer your question, it is not an annual affair...at least, not now. It would be wonderful if JETRO (Japan External Trade Organization) and the Finance Ministry would make it so, though.

Leslie