Zimbabwe cancels trade expos over COVID-19
from WELLINGTON TONI in Harare, Zimbabwe
HARARE – THE Zimbabwe International Trade Fair Company (ZITF) plans to officially cancel all exhibitions it had lined up in 2020.
An escalating outbreak of the coronavirus (COVID-19) has made it unconducive to host any events while plans to downgrade the expos into virtual sessions have also failed.
Busisa Moyo, the ZITF board chairperson, has called for an annual general meeting (AGM) of the organisation later this month, when the cancellation of the exhibitions is to be announced.
The meeting will therefore be to map preparations for 2021 when, by then, the situation is anticipated to have subsided.
Zimbabwe is experiencing a surge in COVID-19 cases, with 4 818, including 104 deaths.
The outbreak has led to a postponement of all events scheduled for this year.
The biggest event was due in April.
Organisers were expecting to attract a number of countries, including neighbouring Botswanaand, South Africa as well as Morocco, Rwanda, United Kingdom (UK) and the United States (USA).
International travel restrictions imposed on March 30 made it impossible to hold the expo in Bulawayo, the second largest city in Zimbabwe.
The Mining, Engineering and Transport (MineEntra) was set for July but postponed for the same reasons.
Plans for a virtual version failed too.
– CAJ News
