Meetings of Dairy Sector

Athens, 20 June 2019 | As part of its ongoing outreach program, Enterprise Greece this month organized two special gatherings for Greek dairy and cheese producers with buyers from around the world resulting in more than 500 business meetings to explore commercial partnerships.

The B2B meetings, part of the agency’s 4^th annual action program, were held in Athens, June 10, 2019 and Larissa, June 12, 2019 and involved 40 Greek companies and 21 buyers from the USA, Canada, South Korea, China, the UAE, Egypt, Poland, Hungary, Germany, and the UK. The business meetings were carried out in cooperation with the Economic and Commercial Affairs Offices of the Greek embassies in each of the target markets.

Prior to the start of the business meetings on Monday, 10 June, strategic management consultant Kimon Georgiou, spoke to participants on the important role of cheese-making in the history, sociology and diet of Greece. Grigoris Stergioulis, Chairman and CEO of Enterprise Greece, made welcoming remarks and chaired the event, while Greek PDO & PGI cheeses were presented and made available for tasting throughout the duration of the gathering.

At the close of the business meetings in Larissa on 12 June, Mr. Stergioulis said: “The Agency has developed and is implementing an action plan specifically for promoting high-quality Greek cheeses. We will follow up the B2B meetings with a special national presentation at the Anuga 2019 international food fair. We were very pleased to hear that the buyers, who came from target markets, have affirmed the high quality of Greek dairy products and express their eagerness to further develop their commercial relations with Greece. At the same time, the participating Greek companies welcomed this event and stressed the importance of such opportunities in presenting their products to the market.”

The 4th Business Meeting Program is part of the strategic plan to promote the agro-food industry, which was developed by Enterprise Greece and has been underway since 2016. It includes, among other things, organizing business meetings with buyers from abroad and sending business missions to target markets. Such initiatives to promote Greek export companies have established Greece’s reputation as a producer of high-quality products, which is reflected in the record growth of Greek exports.