State fair to draw 1,600 companies

NEARLY 500 exhibitors representing some 1,600 companies from 40 countries will participate in the annual International State Fair which opens next week.

State Fairs Authority Chairman Demetris Ioannou said the fair, the island’s 23rd, was set to “mark a new development effort for the Cyprus economy”.

Of the exhibition space at the fair, 67 per cent will be held by Cypriot companies and 33 by foreign countries.

Ioannou said this year’s fair coincided with the start of accession talks between Cyprus and the European Union, which for the third time would have its own pavilion.

“The success of this participation and its practical outcome should create favourable impressions aboard for Cyprus and its business activities,” Ioannou said.

For the first time, the fair will be open to the general public from the first day, May 21.

On weekdays, the fair will be open from 6.30pm to 11.30pm, on Saturdays from 6pm to midnight and on Sundays from 6pm to 11.30pm.

The Cyprus Mail is the only English-language daily newspaper published in Cyprus. It was established in 1945 and today, with its popular and widely-read website, the Cyprus Mail is among the most trusted news sites in Cyprus. The newspaper is not affiliated with any political parties and has always striven to maintain its independence. Over the past 70-plus years, the Cyprus Mail, with a small dedicated team, has covered momentous events in Cyprus’ modern history, chronicling the last gasps of British colonial rule, Cyprus’ truncated independence, the coup and Turkish invasion, and the decades of negotiations to stitch the divided island back together, plus a myriad of scandals, murders, and human interests stories that capture the island and its -people. Observers describe it as politically conservative.