DTI-Central Visayas Regional Director Asteria Caberte announces the staging of Sandugo Trade Expo 2018 during a press conference on Wednesday. (Photo by Luel Galarpe/PNA)
CEBU CITY -- The Department of Trade and Industry's Central Visayas office (DTI-7) announced that all is set for the staging of the Sandugo Trade Expo 2018, a meet-and-match event which aims to connect exporters with potential suppliers.
DTI Regional Director Asteria Caberte told reporters Wednesday that this year’s regional marketing event is dubbed “Best of the Islands” and will be held July 25 to 29 at the Island City Mall in Tagbilaran City in Bohol.
The event is expected to showcase export-quality products such as souvenir items, wearables, home furnishings, fashion accessories, processed food, gifts and decors, and health and wellness goods.
Caberte said the Trade Expo, which started as a provincial fair some 13 years back, has been growing every year with the participation of more and more exhibitors from other regions in the country.
“Now we have 150 exhibitors from 10 of the country’s 16 regions,” Caberte said. “This year, we will be joined by exhibitors from Mimaropa (Mindoro, Marinduque, Romblon, Palawan) and the National Capital Region.”
Other exhibitors expected to participate in the five-day trade fair are from the Central Visayas, Caraga, Cordillera, Western Visayas, Eastern Visayas, Calabarzon, Northern Mindanao, and Davao or Southern Mindanao regions.
Some of the micro, small and medium enterprises (MSME) which graduated from the DTI’s Kapatid Mentor Micro Enterprise (Kapatid Mentor ME) and One Town One Product (OTOP) programs, will also display their products at the trade fair.
“The Sandugo Trade Expo is a fair for exporters looking for suppliers and we are targeting to generate PHP25 million sales this year,” Caberte said.
The OTOP-Philippines Hub, another marketing promotion program of DTI, will also be launched at the event along with several other DTI-supported entrepreneurial activities.
The trade expo, also aimed to promote Bohol as a tourist destination, is an annual undertaking of the DTI-7 held every July in time for the province’s Sandugo Festival celebration, commemorating the blood compact (sandugo) between Datu Sikatuna and Spanish conquistador Miguel Lopez de Legazpi in 1565.
According to Caberte, this year’s Sandugo Festival also coincides with the Tigum Bol-Anon Tibuok Kalibotan, which is a gathering of Boholanos worldwide held every three years. (PNA)
