February 21st till 24th, 2022, SARIO agency, in cooperation with the Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development of the Slovak Republic, organized Business mission to the EXPO 2020 in Dubai, as part of the Food, Agriculture & Livelihoods thematic week. The business delegation was represented by a total of 13 Slovak companies from the food, agriculture, science and research sectors. 7 companies participated in a Business mission within the Foreign Trade Department and another 6 SMEs from the same sector were supported under the National Project ‘Support of internationalization of SMEs’ realized within the Operational Programme Research and Innovation, On February 22, 2022, SARIO organized a business forum at the Slovak pavilion, which was opened by the State Secretary of the Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development of the Slovak Republic, Martin Kováč. He then continued with a lecture on the development and prospects of the Slovak agro sector.Mohammed Bin Sulaiman, a representative of the Dubai Chamber of Commerce, also gave a presentation on "Doing Business in the UAE Food & Beverage Market".The business forum included a ROKOSAN workshop called Let’s Make Dessert Green Again, during which the company's projects and past successes were presented. After the presentation part of the business forum, B2B negotiations and networking took place in the presence of business representatives of individual delegations of partner countries such as Slovenia, Malaysia and Chile.February 23rd 2022 was dedicated to a varied program under the auspices of the National Project Department. The companies had the opportunity to attend expert lectures on doing business in the UAE, the customs and principles that must be followed to ensure a successful business in a country prepared by SESAM agency. They also learned more about the current market situation in the F&B area, obtained information on modern trends and sustainable food. The educational part of the event moved smoothly to the Food Tasting, which allowed companies to present their brand as well as their specific products. Over 30 B2B negotiations took place during the Food tasting, and based on positive feedback from Slovak companies, several follow-ups with UAE companies will be done. All participating companies took advantage of this program and seized opportunities offered to them.
