Trade fairs and exhibitions, canceled or postponed due to the Covid-19 pandemic, will be able to resume from September 1, announced Monday the Minister for Foreign Trade and Attractiveness, Franck Riester. "The decision was taken in the Defense Council (last Friday, editor's note) to allow, from September 1, the organization again of fairs and trade shows (...) while respecting the health safety instructions", indicated the Minister to the press.
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The Minister Delegate was speaking after having received various representatives of the sector at the Parc des Expositions de la Porte de Versailles in Paris. "Obviously, this will perhaps evolve according to the evolution of the epidemic", he underlined, specifying that the places hosting this type of events "were going to be reopened, including" those "allowing to 'welcome more than 5,000 people'. "It is a sector of activity essential to the recovery (...) For it to bear maximum fruit, the recovery must be able to be a relaunch of foreign trade and international activity", insisted the Minister .
34 million euros generated by these events
According to him, 34 million euros direct and indirect are generated by the activity of these fairs and trade shows. Discussions with representatives of the sector also focused "on the specific methods of supporting this sector in the recovery plan, in particular the device which aims to identify and convince professionals to come", Franck Riester added.
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"The idea is to find levers to better identify, attract and welcome professionals from around the world to our international shows and fairs in France. We discussed various possible tools and we will talk about them in particular on Thursday" during a Strategic Export Council with the Minister of the Economy Bruno Le Maire and the Minister of Foreign Affairs Jean-Yves Le Drian, he detailed, stressing that 30% of French GDP comes from activities linked to export.