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| Seong Mu-yong, chairman of the organizing committee of the Cheonan Well-being Food Expo waves a flag to encourage athletes from the city participating in the Chungnam Sports Festival for the Disabled at the Seosan Sports Complex on May 31. The expo will take place in the city from Aug. 30 to Sept. 15. / Courtesy of the Cheonan Food Expo Organizing Committee. |
By Shim Jae-yun
The Cheonan 2013 International Well-being Food Expo has attracted 53 companies from 27 countries from around the world, and will take place at the Cheonan Samgeori (three-way intersection) Park from Aug. 30 to Sept. 15.
The organizing committee earlier expected some 20 firms from 15 countries would take part in the fair. "But it is encouraging to see a rapid rise in applications," said Seo Joung-gon, a team head in charge of overseas affairs.
The foreign companies include seven from European nations including France, Poland and Hungary, four from the United States and Latin America, and 40 from 16 Asian countries mostly from China and Japan. Firms from Australia and Cote d'Ivoire of Africa will also participate in the event.
"The foreign firms are expected to display their diverse food products and provide visitors with the opportunity to sample them, making the expo a stage to grasp the recent trend of well-being food in each nation," Seo said.
The exhibition for the foreign firms will take place for five days from Aug. 30 at the International Pavilion of the expo.
With the theme of "Natural Taste, Healthy Future," the expo will likely cover various unique healthy foods from participating countries. They include organic wine from France, tomato-processed foods, apples and herb tea from Turkey, and extracts from coffee beans from the U.S..
The committee has set Sept. 2 as a "business day" for participating foreign companies wanting to set up ties with domestic firms.
"Due to the less favorable location coupled with a lack of experience in holding international events, we expected many difficulties at first. But we managed to overcome them with brisk activities to induce foreign firms by visiting 32 foreign embassies, and 15 organizations pertinent to trade and food," Seo said.
The committee is poised to extend full support for the foreign participants in terms of clearance and transportation of items to be displayed.
It expects some 700,000 people will attend the event including 30,000 foreign visitors.
