The Agro-Industry 2008 Sector Partnership Meeting (SPM), held at the White Sands Hotel, Dar es Salaam last from 5-10 May, successfully concluded its activities with impressive results, as follows:

• In total, 483 participants attended the event, as follows:
  
  
  • 400 key business individuals from SADC, the EU and internationally
  • 48 organisers and officials
  • 35 members of the Press
• 367 businesses were represented, as follows:
  
  
  • 174 SADC-based ‘Project Owners/Promoters’
  • 148 International ‘Business Partners’
  • 45 East Africa ‘Project Owners/Promoters’ and ’Business Partners’
• In the case of Tanzania, 53 business prospects were represented, as follows:
  
  
  • 40 ‘Project Owners/Promoters’ (the highest number of projects of any SADC country)
  • 13 ‘Business Partners’
• Business-to-business activity can be summarised, as follows:
  
  
  • 1,548 formal one-to-one business-to-business meetings were held
  • 170 ‘Letters of Intent’ were signed between individuals and companies, signalling future potential for trade, commercial and/or investment partnerships in SADC

Overall, the Agro-Industry 2008 SPM event has proven to be a highly successful business-to-business forum, enhanced by several new initiatives, with the ambition of achieving significant and sustainable results for all participants seeking business, trade and/or investment opportunities in Southern Africa. The SPM was funded by the EU-SADC Investment Promotion Programme (ESIPP), costing almost €1.3m to organise and host.

Agro-Industry 2008 aims to develop sustainable and meaningful trade, business and investment partnerships between enterprises in Southern Africa (SADC) and the EU/3rd Countries. This was a once-off strategic opportunity and will not be repeated again, though follow-up activity may result under certain circumstances, including by means of this website through networking, discussion fora and periodic web-based updates etc.

For the SADC region generally, the outlook for the agro-industry sector, in terms of trade, business and/or investment opportunities is increasingly attractive in the context of:

• Rising food and commodity prices driven by increased demand for commodities and processed products in developing economies (such as Brazil, China, India, Russia etc.)
• Climate change and shifting production patterns in the region and globally
• A global food shortage and the need for concerted efforts to address improved food production, improved technologies and enhanced market access generally
• A trend towards increased production of bio-fuel crops in the context of high energy prices and improving bio-fuel production technologies

1. A list of all registered participants, including contact details as supplied;
2. All relevant PowerPoint presentations from the 4 Thematic Workshops;
3. All 14 Country Sector Profiles (in pdf format);
4. All profiles for the SADC Project Promoters/Owners (in pdf format);
5. All profiles for the International Business Partners (in pdf format);
6. All profiles for the East Africa Project Promoters/Owners and Business Partners (in pdf format);

To access this privileged information you will need to log-in using your existing Username and Password already supplied to you.

You may also wish to visit the newly created Discussion Forum (Under Construction) to leave comment or raise discussion on any aspect. This is another way of maintaining contact and engaging in meaningful dialogue with your fellow Agro-Industry 2008 participants.

Should you wish to discuss any follow-up aspects you may contact:

Thank You! for participating in Agro-Industry 2008 and for contributing to its success as a regional agro-industry business-to-business event with significant potential for follow-through.