Friday, October 31, 2008 Davao chamber confident to hit Date target By Joy Romares-Sevilla
THE Davao City Chamber of Commerce and Industry Inc. (DCCCII) is confident it has hit its sales target for the three-day Davao Trade Expo (Date) 2008 at the Davao Convention and Trade Center last week.
Antonio dela Cruz, Date 2008 co-chair, said in Thursday's edition of the Club 888 press forum at the Marco Polo Davao that DCCCII has initially recorded P22 million in sales from at least 97 booths that participated in the event.
"As of today, only 97 companies have submitted their sales reports," dela Cruz said, adding that Date 2008 had a total of 170 exhibitors.
DCCCII targets a 25 percent increase in sales from last year's performance of P79 million.
Dela Cruz, on the other hand, disclosed that Date 2008 was a success, saying the event drew in 4,000 visitors both from Davao City and the neighboring provinces and cities.
He said the best booth was awarded to the province of Davao del Norte, the display showcase award was grabbed by the province of North Cotabato, while the corporate award was given to the Mana Davao.
Meanwhile, as for the jobs fair, dela Cruz said 49 local employers and 36 overseas agencies joined the fair.
"There were a total of 5,295 applicants, 612 were immediately hired, while a total of 2,572 were subject for interview," dela Cruz said.
The job fair was conducted in coordination with the regional office of the Department of Labor and Employment (Dole) Southern Mindanao and the ABS-CBN Foundation.
Although no foreign embassies participated in the event, dela Cruz said they are still grateful that foreign visitors were able to come and observe.
It was learned that the Indonesian and Malaysian consuls and also the Belgian Ambassador were in the city last week for the event.
Dela Cruz said DCCCII hopes to finish all the reports on the results of Date 2008 by next week. JGRS
