by Patience Rashai

The 2018 Mining, Engineering and Transport (Mine-Entra) has increased space, opening a supplementary exhibition hall due to overwhelming demand from prospective participants eager to showcase and do business in the sector.

The expo, which is organised by the Zimbabwe International Trade Fair (ZITF) is in its 23rd year running and preparations has since sold out 6 385 square metres of the available exhibition space compared to last year’s total of 4,414 square metres.

ZITF Company board chairperson, Ruth Ncube said, “A total of 183 companies have so far booked exhibition space compared to a total of 153 direct exhibitors from last year,” she said.

“Most of the exhibitors have a bias towards the mining sector, and based on this overwhelming interest, supplementary exhibition space has been availed with an additional exhibition hall being opened and more external sites being put to use.”

The Ministry of Mines also confirmed the overwhelming response, even from foreign companies, saying it points to the fact that the international world was slowly being receptive of the Zimbabwe being open for business mantra.

“The positive response indicates that more companies are recognising Mine-Entra as the most important international business-to-business meeting point for the mining and related industries. So far we have three foreign exhibitors, up from one country last year.”

The three foreigners are represented by individual companies; five from China, two from South Africa and one from Japan, summing to eight foreign companies.

This year’s expo runs under the theme, “Mineral Beneficiation: Catalyst for Economic Growth” and is set to put a strategic focus on the country’s minerals industry.