BASSETERRE, St.Kitts (Friday 18th December 2020) – The Federation of St.Kitts and Nevis has its booth-type presence among a total of 23 countries around the world participating in a 2020 Virtual Taiwan trade fair expo in response to having a new arrangement due to the COVID-19 pandemic.
A launch ceremony was hosted by the Taiwan Technical Mission at its office housed at Needmust on Friday 11th December 2020, showcasing the online platform designed by the Taiwan External Trade Development Council (TAITRA).
The Taiwan Embassy has highlighted that such an online platform allows Taiwanese suppliers to digitally present their products and relevant information to the public of St. Kitts and Nevis. The flexibility of much more products being visible thus offering more options and opportunities to potential buyers from St. Kitts and Nevis has also been noted.
Resident Taiwanese Ambassador Tom Lee, in his remarks, said that this year the expo in St.Kitts-Nevis was originally scheduled on the Agriculture Day in March.
“Starting from last year, our embassy used the Agriculture Day to host a trade fair to further deepen our economic tie with St.Kitts and Nevis as well as to showcase Taiwan’s excellent products to our friends, and this year, we all know that because of COVID-19 and our embassy we cannot host it physically that’s the reason why our government set up on online trade fair platform so that it would easier for people to use it.”
In encouraging Kittitians and Nevisians to see what the expo has to offer, he told “ of course you are not limited to the Taiwan Expo in St.Kitts and Nevis where we showcase agriculture machinery and products” whilst also noting “ you can go to other expos in other countries.” Offering user insight, he talked about clicking a product to see contact information and name of manufacturer. Ambassador Lee gave assurance that his government will continue to “work tirelessly to further our economic ties with St.Kitts and Nevis for the benefit of our two great peoples.”
Minister of International Trade, Industry, Commerce, Consumer Affairs and Labour Wendy Phipps commented that the virtual expo is “testimony to versatility and adaptability of the Taiwanese people; their longstanding investment in information and communication technologies for which they are now renowned as world leaders, and this expo is a further demonstration of that.”
President of the St. Kitts-Nevis Chamber of Industry and Commerce Giselle Matthews congratulated the Taiwan Mission for executing a virtual of this year’s expo exhibition.
“Having to reinvent yourself after only one year of launching, it shows that that the embassy and its mission certainly are very flexible and willing to accept change in this new COVID environment but it also exhibits the fact that technology can be used in so many ways and the use of technology today is certainly showing us that although we cannot physically be a space, we certainly can have online access to it.”
She continued: “It does take away some of the human element and the opportunity to network directly with the exporter or the producer but at the same time also opening up an avenue for many people who would not have been able to attend the expo for whatever reasons and we can share that accessibility through our smartphones, computers and other means.”
Mathews expressed excitement that they can easily share the link with all of our Chamber members.
“I think at the Chamber what is exciting for us is that we can easily share the link with all of our members and they can have access to see the products that are available for possible import into St. Kitts and Nevis.”
Following the launch event, guests were each presented a gift of a new speaker type of product on the market, made in the Republic of China (Taiwan).
The virtual expo is accessible via https://bit.ly/TW-Expo and Https://bit.ly/TW-Expo2.
Among countries taking part are India, Chile, Haiti, Nigeria and St.Lucia.