A meeting of interested stakeholders and co-organisers was held at Chippie Café on Tuesday 16th September 2008. The group which included Commissioner Maria Buncamper, sector director Miguel de Weever and staff members as well as Chamber of Commerce President Glen Carty and boardmembers met to discuss the proposal made by the Couture Consortium for hosting the 1st Annual "Lifestyle Sint Maarten Trade Fair".
This initiative pegged to be a public/private partnership venture is scheduled to take place at the beginning of the season and will be the first of its kind. The Trade Fair will cater to fostering partnerships and raising awareness within the business sector for business owners, potential employees, new entrepreneurs and small business owners from all trade and industry sectors. The motivation for developing this concept came from an effort to be pro-active about engaging the business community to be better prepared to deal with the possibilities of an uncertain economic climate, with forecasts for the future being bleak. Expectations are that the event will draw great interest from the business community as well as the general public and will be an exciting day filled with various activities and promotions for all including the neighbouring islands. More information will be forthcoming about this event during the coming weeks.
