The world’s largest agriculture, food industry and horticulture expo, Berlin’s International Green Week (IGW) ended on Sunday with a resounding success and over 400 thousand visitors; this year, for the second time in history, Hungary was the event’s exclusive partner country.
Germany is Hungary’s most important foreign trade partner within the field of agriculture and the food industry, and this is one of the reasons why it is a great honour that, following 2010, Hungary was once again invited to be guest of honour at the expo, which was held from 20-29 January.
Thanks to its exclusive partner country status, Hungary has a whole 1700 square metre pavilion to showcase the products and services of its 33 exhibitors. With regard to its participation as partner courts, the Hungarian Government emphasised the fact that Hungarian foods are produced from reliable sources and quality ingredients. This is particularly important to Hungary, because we were the first country in the world to declare in its Constitution that it is illegal to include GMOs in public cultivation in Hungary.
The central element of the “Ungernhalle”, the Hungarian pavilion, was the Hungarian “Inn”, which has been a great success in the past and was redesigned for the occasion, and which was full of visitors throughout the 10-day event. German visitors were happy to sample our traditional products such as pálinka, salami, sausage and wine, and were also glad to purchase some chimney cake, foods made using mangalitsa pork, cheeses and cold-pressed oils. The image of the uniform exhibition, which combined both classical and modern elements, was clearly a success, and was acknowledged by both the public and exhibitors.
Visitors not only had the opportunity to sample our traditional foods and drinks, but also enjoyed a taste of our cultural values via the varied programmes of the Hungarian stage, including folk dancing, live music and other diverse attractions.
The expo was also an opportunity for agricultural diplomacy. On the first day of the IGW, Minister of Agriculture Sándor Fazekas met with his German counterpart Christian Schmidt and concluded an agreement on Hungarian-German cooperation within the field of agriculture, after which Mr. Fazekas held several other bilateral meetings with ministers and state secretaries from various countries.
The importance of the expo is indicated by the fact that over the course of 10 days visitors spent a total of 48 million euros on the wares of the 1650 exhibitors from 6 countries who appeared at the fair.
A photo gallery and some videos of the Hungarian pavilion are available here: