Partnership opens new channels to Europe for African exhibition organisers

Johannesburg, March 2018 – The Association of African Exhibition Organisers (AAXO) has signed a strategic agreement with its Italian counterpart, the Italian Exhibition and Trade Fair Association (AEFI), to support bilateral growth and collaboration.

The partnership agreement, designed to enhance collaboration between pan-African and Italian exhibition organisers, encompasses the sharing of information and data; a fair price policy for activities, products, services, events, meetings and conferences proposed by the AEFI and AAXO; the development of co-sponsorship initiatives to promote networking and new contacts between the members of the two associations; reciprocal support, promotion of the respective exhibitions; and the promotion of trade cooperation through all the available tools, including the web.

“AAXO is delighted to announce our partnership with the AEFI and we are looking forward to working with the AEFI and growing a closer business relationship between Italian companies and African companies in various industry sectors. This partnership will assist growth and greater participation in the exhibition industry, and present new opportunities and open new channels to Europe for our stakeholders,” says Carol Weaving, chair of AAXO.

For AEFI, the partnership aligns with its ambitions to trade more closely with Africa, which were highlighted during the association’s contact with local counterparts at the UFI Global Congress in Johannesburg in November last year. At the congress, it was noted that African economies sought to develop industries such as tourism and raw materials processing, and that trade fairs played a crucial role in facilitating this development.

Thanks to a young population and the potential for sustained economic growth, Africa has the potential to become an increasingly significant economy in the international context, AEFI believes.

“We’re proud of this new partnership, since Africa is a continent with enormous growth potential,” comments Ettore Riello, Chairman of AEFI. “We’re sure that the agreement with AAXO can help AEFI members to develop their business, offering new growth opportunities to small and medium-sized enterprises above all. AAXO can provide our members with support for fine-tuning the appropriate development strategies, with specific interventions according to their requirements and in consideration of the particular characteristics of the various areas of Africa, as well as overcoming the barriers to entry.”

AAXO is on a drive to enhance and develop its African industry membership for trade and consumer exhibitions, and to encourage pan-African industry players to engage and benefit from becoming a member. All membership inquiries, including a full list of membership benefits and information on how to join, can be directed to aaxo@aaxo.co.za. For more information on AAXO, visit www.aaxo.co.za or contact Llewellyn du Plessis on 011 549 8300 or at llewellyn@aaxo.co.za.