India International Coir Fair 2016 at Coimbatore

KOCHI:
Arrangements for the organization of the 4 th edition of the India International Coir Fair  (IICF-2016) from 15th to 18th July at CODISSIA Trade Fair Complex, Coimbatore a re on the full swing.
It is for the first time that the entire coir sector from the country is participating in this mega event organized by the Coir Board. Products ranging from the traditional floor covering material, improvised floor covering material, coir pith and its value added products, coir garden articles, coir handicraft items, coir geotextile, coir wood, etc. are some of the important items which are being exhibited in this event. As many as 95 individual exhibitors are participating in the fair.
Major participants are from the States of Tamil Nadu and Kerala, recording a number of 54 and 24 respectively. Other States like Karnataka, Andhra Pradesh, Odisha, Maharashtra, Gujarat are also represented in this event. Almost all the public sector undertakings and apex level organizations of co-operatives in the coir sector belonging to various coir producing States have confirmed their participation. The Coir Board is also putting up Theme Pavilions to showcase the recent developments in coir sector and the new user areas for coir. Live demonstrations on technology, production processes and applications are also part of the IICF. One of the important activities envisaged in this event is the Reverse Buyer Seller Meet. So far 55 serious buyers from abroad hailing from 24 countries have confirmed their visit to the event for negotiations with the Indian exporters and establishing trade linkages. Seminars on different topics such as Coir as a Technical Textile, Coir Geotextile and its applications, Coir Pith and its varied end uses, Coir Wood and its emergence as a wood substitute, are also organized to disseminate the technologies and the latest trends in the coir sector. In addition to the above, buyer-seller meets to cater to the domestic market, investors meet, technology transfer, launching of new products, etc. are also planned in this international event.
Veteran entrepreneurs and representatives of the trade who have put in their dedicated services beyond of 70 years of their age are proposed to be presented with Lifetime Achievement Awards (Coir Mithra Award). In addition to this, 100 senior most coir workers who have toiled hard for more than 30 – 35 years are also being honoured in this event.
Union Minister of MSME Kalraj Mishra, Union Minister of Information & Broadcasting Venkaiah Naidu, Union Minister of State for MSME Giriraj Singh, Finance Minister of the State of Kerala Dr.T.M.Thomas Isac, and Finance Minister of the State of Maharashtra Deepak Vasant Kesarkar are some of the VIPs who have already confirmed their participation in this event.
Four books covering the whole gamut of the technical and applicational aspects of coir geotextile, coir pith, coir wood and coir floor coverings would be released in this event. These books are intended to give deeper insight to these products which have the inherent strength to maintain the ecological balance of the mother earth.
A meeting of the Principal Secretaries of the Industries Departments of major coconut producing States, chaired by the Secretary to the Government of India in the Ministry of MSME is also scheduled as part of the event, aiming at better co-operation, co-ordination and cohesion between both the Central and State Government departments for the coir developmental activities in these regions.
Another milestone of this event is the All India Coir Road Show named “Coir Kranti Express” which will be launched on 15.7.2016 and flagged off from Coimbatore on 18.7.2016. The Coir Kranti Express with a display of entire range of coir products and its literature will pass through almost all the States in 120 days and will touch Jammu and North Eastern Sates and conclude at Kochi.
The dual moto of Coir Kranti Express is to propagate the message of coir industry and coir products and to act as a platform to enroll under the network of franchisees for sales of coir products throughout
India.
Coir fashion show, competitions for children in coir, competitions for college students on Coir Business Plan, chess competitions on coir made chess board are some of the other attractions of IICF. In addition to augmenting the exports and domestic markets for coir, the intention of this event is to disseminate the innumerable prospects of coir industry in our country.