“We hope that the relations will progress in the commercial field as well as in all other areas”, said Kenan Yilmaz, Ambassador of Türkiye in Tripoli
About 200 local and foreign companies are taking part in the International Food Fair, which was inaugurated on Sunday by the Prime Minister of Libya’s national unity government, Abdul Hamid Dbeibeh.
Türkiye is one of the best-represented countries at this show.
Türkiye’s ambassador in Tripoli, Kenan Yilmaz, told Anadolu (AA) that Turkish companies are participating in the event this year with 44 companies.
“We care about the participation in this international fair in terms of developing trade relations between the two countries, we hope that the participation in the fairs will increase in the coming years and that the relations will progress in the commercial field as well as in all other areas,” he said.
Glad to see strong turnout
Fair organizer Mesut Akpinar said there was a large turnout at the fair from Turkish cities like Izmir and Gaziantep, especially Istanbul.
Libya has once again become an important market for many Turkish companies, Akpinar points out. “This is a show specifically for food and food technology.”
“The fourth is held this year, we have many companies that come regularly,” he said.
Stating that around 8-10 Turkish companies participated in the fair in the first years, the number increased to 20 last year, and more than 40 this year, which made them particularly happy.
Some things have been settled in Libya, he says, “stability is promising”, he says
“The cooperation of major Libyan companies with Turkish companies makes a very serious contribution to our exports,” Akpinar added.
– Reference product of Türkiye, dried apricots, now in Libya
Elif Nazan Yontan, one of the Turkish participants of the fair, has a company specializing in nuts and dried fruits, She produces and carries out both imports and exports.
“I am very happy to be with companies that we can cooperate with in these lands. We appreciate being here to maintain this partnership between countries and to establish healthy cooperation and agreements,” she said. .
Yontan’s company sells sunflower seeds, popcorn and dried apricots, products that are the cornerstones of Türkiye, to the companies they work with in Libya.
The number of customers in Libya should not be considered low, she said, indicating that companies should enter the market and activate their image and presence.
– “Our biggest customers are Libya and Algeria”
The representative of a packaging company, Hüseyin Kaba, said that they had already participated in fairs in Libya, had taken a break due to Covid-19, but returned to Libya over the last 2 years.
His company produces paper and flexible packaging. “The biggest flour producers in Libya work with us. We make flour bags of 1, 5 and 10 kg. Our biggest customers are Libya and Algeria,” he shared.
The largest number of participants in the fair, which will end this Thursday, come from Türkiye, while Egyptian companies took second place.
In addition to Arab countries such as Morocco, Tunisia, Algeria, Saudi Arabia, United Arab Emirates (UAE) and Jordan, Italian and Spanish companies are also participating in the fair.
