A total of 330 stalls will be featured in the month-long fair

Online Desk:

The 28th Dhaka International Trade Fair is set to kick off on Jan 21 and will run until Feb 20 after a delay caused by the general election.

Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina will inaugurate the country’s largest product exhibition at Bangabandhu Bangladesh-China Friendship Exhibition Centre near Purbachal New Town at 10:30am on that day.

A total of 330 stalls will be featured in the month-long fair, Mahbubur Rahman, director general of the Export Promotion Bureau, told    on Monday.

The EPB generally organises the month-long fair in Dhaka on New Year’s Day.

However, the fair’s opening was delayed this year as the 12th parliamentary election was held on Jan 7.

The organisers wanted to start the fair on Jan 15 but faced a one-week delay because of preparations and other issues.

The commerce ministry and the EPB jointly organised the fair in Dhaka’s Sher-e-Bangla Nagar from 1995 to 2020. The authorities suspended the event in 2021 due to the coronavirus pandemic and resumed the fair at the Purbachal venue for the first time in 2022.

EPB secretary Bibek Sarkar talked on Sunday about the progress of preparations for the fair. He said the allocation of stalls or pavilions was in the final stages.

“We’ve started constructing the Bangabandhu Pavilion and the main gate, and it’ll be done soon,” he added.

The EPB said several countries, including India, Pakistan, Thailand, Turkey, Malaysia, Indonesia, Hong Kong, Singapore, and Nepal, will be part of this year’s trade fair.

The emphasis is on exhibiting local products and identifying significant export opportunities in diverse markets.