Covid-19: Largest trade fair in Mozambique cancels 2020 edition

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Covid-19: Largest trade fair in Mozambique cancels 2020 edition

3:10 CAT | 03 Jul 2020

The 57th edition of the Agricultural, Commercial and Industrial Fair of Mozambique (FACIM), the largest in the country, has been cancelled due to the new coronavirus, the Agency for the Promotion of Investment and Exports (APIEX) announced today.

“There will be no FACIM this year: there can be no mass gatherings, by law,” Apiex director Lourenço Sambo explained.

Of the 32 countries that had previously confirmed their presence at this year’s event, 14 had cancelled their participation, which, coming on top of the restrictions imposed by the pandemic, hastened the cancellation of the event, he added.

“We saw that there was no point in waiting for the remaining [participants] to cancel too,” said Sambo.

Mozambique’s main commercial fair, which takes place annually over August and September, usually sees about 20 to 30 countries participating, and serves as a “showcase for the Mozambican economy and a gateway for foreign investment”.

“The impact is huge – a lot of business and money will be lost,” Sambo said.

APIEX said that, for 2021, there are three different models under study, depending on the evolution of the disease in Mozambique and across the world: a digital fair, a face-to-face fair or a combination of the two.

“It is likely that the fair will lose the number of participating countries and companies” as well as visitors, Sambo noted.

With a total of 918 positive Covid-19 cases, six deaths and 249 recoveries, Mozambique has been in a state of emergency since April 1.

The Mozambican head of state on Sunday announced the extension of the Covid-19 state of emergency for the third time – the maximum provided for in the Constitution – with phased lifting of some restrictions.

Schools will reopen in stages, some international air connections will resume, more staff will be allowed in the workplace and museums will be able to reopen.

The Covid-19 pandemic has already claimed more than 517,000 lives and infected more than 10.76 million people in 196 countries and territories worldwide, according to a report by French news agency AFP.