US embassy cable - 05DHAKA1081

UNCLAS DHAKA 001081 
 
SIPDIS 
 
DEPT FOR EB/CBA (DENNIS WINSTEAD) 
DEPT FOR SA/PB 
 
E.O. 12958: DECL: N/A 
TAGS: BEXP, ECON, ETRD, BG 
SUBJECT: 2005 U.S. TRADE SHOW - LARGEST EVER 
 
1. On February 16-18, Embassy co-hosted with the 
American Chamber of Commerce in Bangladesh the 
fourteenth annual U.S. Trade Show.  This year's 
show, held at the Dhaka Sheraton, attracted an 
estimated 21,000 visitors.  Despite political 
unrest and general strikes during the Trade Show 
planning period, 75 firms purchased 124 booths at 
the U.S. Trade Show -- the largest number of booths 
and the largest number of presenters to date. 
 
2. We kicked off our event on the evening of the 
15th with a welcome dinner, sponsored by 
Caterpillar, for participating firms at which Betsy 
Stillman, Trade Policy Advisor from USTR, delivered 
the keynote address on corporate responsibility and 
social change.  On the morning of the 16th, Foreign 
Minister Morshed Khan and the Ambassador, along 
with representatives of the media and American and 
local firms, participated in an opening ceremony 
formally inaugurating the show.  The Ambassador's 
reception held that evening drew over 500 business 
people and government officials. 
 
3. Our informal survey of Trade Show participants 
indicates that several American firms at the trade 
show completed sales and/or developed leads that 
could result in significant sales.  A few 
highlights follow: 
 
-- Caterpillar's local agent expects to sell over 
$2.5 million worth of generators as a result of 
leads developed at the show, while Waukesha's local 
distributor received initial talks on sale of 
generators worth $20 million; 
 
-- Kraft Foods, U.S.A. has leads totaling $1 
million for Tang instant drink; 
 
-- Jordana Color Cosmetics believes its presence at 
the show will lead to $100,000 in cosmetics sales; 
 
-- American Aire claims to have developed $250,000 
worth of product leads during the show. 
 
4. Numerous visitors stopped by our trade show 
booth to learn more about purchasing U.S. exports. 
We distributed hundreds of brochures highlighting 
the Embassy's commercial services, copies of our 
newsletter, our Country Commercial Guide, and a 
flyer on the importance of intellectual property 
rights to Bangladesh -- all published using BFIF. 
We expect the number of visitors to the Embassy's 
Trade Center to increase over the next few months, 
similar to last year, following this annual 
outreach event. 
 
5. The Trade Show received excellent media 
coverage.  Articles were published in the leading 
dailies highlighting the significance of the show. 
The electronic media also telecasted reports on the 
U.S. Trade Show and commented that the bi-lateral 
relationship between Bangladesh and U.S. will grow 
further through participating in this largest ever 
U.S. Trade Show. 
 
THOMAS