BITS buoyed by foreign companies

Premier Events has been the main organiser behind BITS for the last six years.

Stollmeyer also said Government has been missing out on a golden opportunity to diversify the country’s economy away from the energy sector by not participating in the trade show.

Held annually since 2001, BITS this year will be held at the Centre of Excellence in Macoya from October 4 to 7. Opening hours are between 12.30 pm to 8.30 pm.

In an interview with Business Day, Stollmeyer said the company is confident that this year’s show will be bigger and better. With over 80 companies registered to participate in the show, Stollmeyer said he was very pleased with the number of foreign companies taking part. These include Procomer — the Foreign Trade Corporation of Costa Rica, the Panama Facilitation Company and Synergy Exports Inc of Canada.

Stollmeyer added that there are also companies from the United States and Barbados taking part in BITS 2007.

He disclosed that most of these companies have never done business in TT before. “They are looking at business and they are coming with new products and ideas,” Stollmeyer stated.

Synergy, for example, specialises in a wide range of solar energy products which are very relevant to the current trend towards environmentally friendly energy sources. Procomer is the Costa Rican government’s export promotion agency and has established an office in Port-of- Spain since 2003 to strengthen trade ties between TT and Costa Rica.

Trade between Costa Rica and Caricom countries such as TT, Barbados and Guyana has been carried out under the Costa Rica-Caricom Free Trade Agreement which came into effect on November 15, 2005. Trade Minister Ken Valley has spoken about efforts to expand this agreement to include the entire Central American region.

Asked whether Government has been assisting BITS in any way, Stollmeyer replied : “We have made overtures to the Ministry of Trade and have gotten no response from them. Every year we approach them and we get no help.”

He added that given Government’s efforts to diversify the economy and expand the country’s trade links, BITS could be an important vehicle whereby Government could disseminate information about opportunities in the local building industry.

Stollmeyer said Premier Events have also made overtures to the Urban Development Corporation of TT (Udecott) to participate in BITS but Udecott has not accepted its invitations either. Several major state construction projects such as the Port-of-Spain International Waterfront Project currently fall under Udecott’s portfolio.

Notwithstanding the State’s non-participation, Stollmeyer said Premier Events has been doing well to stage BITS which costs between $1 - $2 million.

“It’s growing every year. It’s becoming known as the show for the building industry in the region. We are attracting more and more people,” he stated. Stollmeyer added that the main purpose of the show, apart from creating new business opportunities for the participating companies, is to create a wider knowledge of the building industry and help the players to keep current with all of the changes taking place in it.