Tourism, Industry and Commerce Minister Manniram Prashad, yesterday, made a walk-about at the Sophia Exhibition Centre, which is abuzz with preparations for GuyExpo, and said 300 booths are on board, and this year Guyanese can expect innovations.
The innovations, according to him, will see several new attractions, including a Splashmin’s Village; an area dedicated to children which will have face painting, ice cream, games, and a photo area, among others; space dedicated to healthy eating; and a food court, which will feature a variety of foreign foods.
Prashad said Mexicans, Brazilians, Chinese and even Asians will have a presence at the food court.
“We are pleased with the foreign participation,” he said.
Prashad explained that the exposition is a stage for local producers to advance their trade and the inclusion of foreign participants encourages linkages, which is a plus for the local business community.
For this year’s exhibition the Tourism, Industry and Commerce Minister stated that an investment has been made in developing a wider area at the Sophia Exhibition Centre to cater for the overwhelming response.
According to him the main pavilion, occupied by government agencies in the past, has been given to local manufacturers and producers.
Prashad added that some of the bigger names in the business community have in the past stayed away from GuyExpo, but because of the increasing competition promoted by the trade fair, they are coming back.

As for security, the Minister assured that GuyExpo 2010 will be more organised and there will be more crowd control mechanisms in place to ensure safety.
The Expo will be staged for six days beginning tomorrow at the Sophia Exhibition Centre and is the single largest event in the Caribbean, a fact confirmed by countries including Jamaica and Trinidad and Tobago.
Prashad stressed that there will be no held over of GuyExpo this year.