Cebu to participate in FAME trade show

CEBU, Philippines — Cebu will have a special highlight at the country’s premier trade show next month, the Manila FAME.

Department of Trade and Industry regional director Asteria Caberte said Cebuano exhibitors will have their own pavilion during the design and lifestyle trade show on October 20-22 at the World Trade Center in Pasay City.

"It's the first time we'll have our own pavilion to show the best of Cebu," she said yesterday.

Cebu's having its own pavilion in this year's Manila FAME was made possible by Cebuano Clayton Tugonon, who is executive director of the Center for International Trade Expositions and Missions (CITEM), the organizer the lifestyle trade show, the DTI official said.

CITEM is DTI's export promotions arm.

Exhibitors from Cebu include members of industry associations such as the Cebu Furniture Industries Foundation (CFIF), Cebu Gifts, Decors and Housewares (GDH) and Cebu Fashion Accessories Manufacturers and Exporters (FAME).

Caberte said the Cebu provincial government extended P1.5 million for the participation of Cebu exhibitors at the trade show.

"Hopefully we can sustain this (our expanded participation)," she said.

Considered as the country's premier design and lifestyle event, Manila FAME is a bi-annual showcase of craftsmanship, design innovation, and artisanship in Philippine products.

It features finely selected furniture and home furnishings, holiday gifts and décor, and fashion accessories designed and crafted in the Philippines for the global market.

It is the second longest-running trade show in the Asia-Pacific, and is the only trade event in the country that is approved by Union des Foires Internationales (UFI), or the Global Association of the Exhibition Industry, a Paris-based association of trade fair organizers founded 90 years ago in Milan, Italy in April 1925. (FREEMAN)