Cibus food fair goes annual with Connect event

(ANSA) - Parma, March 1 - Cibus, the world's oldest and most famous Italian food fair, is going annual.
    For 40 years Cibus has taken place every even year.
    But from now on there will also be an event in odd years - Cibus Connect.
    The new fair, organised by the Fiere di Parma trade-fair centre company and Italian food-industry federation Federalimentare, will focus primarily on international exports.
    The first event takes place in Parma on April 12 and 13. A selection of 500 Italian food companies that are already orientated towards exports will show their new products at Cibus Connect, where they will meet around 1,000 foreign buyers.
    These include 150 top buyers organized within the "Discover the Authentic Italian Taste" programme of Italian trade agency ICE. This programme will enable foreign buyers to attend both Cibus Connect in Parma and the Vinitaly wine fair, which is taking place in the same period in Verona. The exhibitor stands will have kitchen units so they can host show cooking. And, for the first time, 50 small producers that are part of the Slow Food Association and offer traditional products of excellence will be among the 500 companies taking part. The new fair has an agile, innovative format - it takes place over just two days with a mix of exhibitions, business matching and conferences to delve in depth into issues regarding the Italian food sector. There will be many workshops, including ones organized by Agrifood Monitor, Confimprese, ItalianFood.Net, Lebensmittel Zeitung, Lsa, MarkUp-GdoWeek, Progressive Grocer and Retail Asia.
    The conference highlights include a forum on the 'Position of Made in Italy Agro-food with Respect to International Evolution of Consumption' organized with the The European House - Ambrosetti and the "ORIGO, Geographical Indications' Global Forum" on Italian and European protected designations of origin products, organized by the Emilia-Romagna Region and the Italian Agriculture Ministry and sponsored by the European Commission.