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Trade fair starts in festive mood

Thousands crowd fairground although many stalls still unfinished

City Correspondent
Dhaka Internationa! Trade Fair (DITF), the month long entertainment hotspot for Dhaka dwellers, was full of life during the weekend.
The fairground at Sher-e-Bangla Nagar was teeming with thousands of visitors on Friday and Saturday.
The dusty air and overcrowding at the venue could not keep the visitors away from browsing through the stalls where many had to experience a bit of elbowing from fellow visitors.
Amid all these, workers were still seen putting the finishing touches on a few pavilions.
Most visitors were seen crowding jewellery counters, home appliance and kitchenware stalls, food outlets and foreign pavilions. Traders however said the volume of sales was still low and they expect it to pick up during the next week.
"Sales are usually low during the first week of the fair when people tend to stroll around a lot and check out various items," said a kitchenware seller at the fair.
"Fridays are always the best
days for any fair. Some transactions took place. Sales will hopefully pick up by the second week, ” he added.
Murad Hossain, a government employee, said, "There is very little space in Dhaka city where we can take our family and have fun. Trade fair is an event my family never misses."
"Today we are here to eat snacks and browse. We plan to buy stuff on our next visit," he added.
This year the DITF has around 410 participants opening up 47
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pavilions, 41 mini pavilions, 297 stalls and 10 restaurants offering goods ranging from clothing, toiletries, electronics, showpieces, furniture, leather goods, toys, plumbing and sanitary items, jewelleries, dried food, cellular phone sets and banking services. The number of participants last year was around 385.
Exporters, around 65 percent of the total participants, were given priority this year in stall allocation.
The participation of foreign countries at DITF is on a downward trail. Only seven foreign countries -- India, Pakistan, Thailand, Japan, Singapore, Ttirkey and the USA -- with 15 pavilions are participating at the fair this year. However, several of the pavilions were seen operating as Iranian pavilions. The number of foreign participants at DITF last year was eight. The highest number of 22 foreign countries participated at the trade fair in 2002.
Some shoppers complained that several foreign pavilions have sublet their allocated space to local sellers.
Asma Akhter, a homemaker from Tajmahal Road, Mohammadpur, said, "These sublet sections are offering mostly trinkets and some other items available with street vendors and stores at New Market and Gawsia."
"If I enter an Iranian or a Pakistani store, 1 expect their specialty. If I wanted trinkets like these, I could have gone to New Market or Gawsia myself," said a frustrated Asma.
Some other visitors complained about too much dust, bumpy walkways and mismanagement in the car parking area.
According to the authorities, security has been beefed up this year with plain-clothes police officers and RAB personnel patrolling the fair premises, male and female police personnel on standby at all entrances and 40 closed-circuit cameras installed at different strategic points.
Earlier it was announced that mugging and eve-teasing - a common problem at the fair --would be strictly controlled. On Friday, police officers on duty told this correspondent that they did not yet come across any untoward incident inside or
outside the fairground.
Many women visiting the fair appreciated the arrangement of separate ticket counters for women. For the visitors' convenience, the organisers also introduced resting facilities this year. The number of toilets has also been increased, totalling to 22.
Fire trucks and fire brigade personnel were also seen on alert at the fair premises. However, one essential item that the fair authorities completely over-1 looked was trashcans and the fairground was found littered with all sorts of trash. ,
The Export Promotion Bureau in cooperation of Ministry of Commerce has been organising the DITF since 1995 to familiarise Bangladeshi products to both local and international buyers.
The fair also provides an. opportunity for foreign manufacturers to introduce their tech-nologies and products to* Bangladesh market.
The fair is open from 10 in the morning till nine in the evening.. On Fridays, the fair will stay open till 10:00pm. A ticket for adult, costs Tk 10 while it is Tk 5 for a child.