Cebu City next stop for North Cotabato Fair and Fruit Festival

The provincial government of North Cotabato will be holding the North Cotabato Fair and Fruit Festival at SM City Cebu starting tomorrow until Sunday (September 23-25) following the success of the 1st North Cotabato Fair and Fruit Festival at SM Megamall, Mandaluyong City last August 8-15.

Organized by the Provincial Government of North Cotabato through the Cotabato Province Investment Promotion Center (CPIPC) and co-presented by the Department of Trade and Industry (DTI) and PNOC-EDC, the Fair will highlight the bountiful harvest of tropical fruits and highland vegetables, world class products developed and produced in the province, as well as North Cotabato's various tourism and investment potentials.

"We would like Cebuanos to savor for themselves the exotic marang and durian, as well as the sweet mangosteen, rambutan, pomelo and bananas of our province in all their fresheness," North Cotabato Governor Manny F. Piñol said.

"With this Trade Fair, we also hope to establish linkages with potential buyers for our agricultural products in Cebu, ensuring a stable market and better income for our farmers," he added.

The Fair will also showcase what North Cotabato has become over the past six years.

From being among the five poorest provinces in the country in 1998, the province is now Region XII's favorite investment area.

The province registered a total of P397.49 million worth of investment in 2004, ranking second (2nd) only to General Santos City. This meant a 113% leap in investments, the biggest in the region as of February 2005 according to DTI-12.

CPIPC has recorded total investments made in North Cotabato from 2000 to 2004 at P901 million, generating 68,595 new jobs, and making it the leading province in job generation in the region, according to DOLE-12.

The North Cotabato Fair and Fruit Festival is supported by the Department of Agriculture, Department of Land Reform, Department of Tourism, Landbank of the Philippines, Lapanday Foods Corp., Dole-Stanfilco, Growth with Equity in Mindanao (GEM), Philippine Airlines, Asian Hybrid Seed Technologies Inc., and the Municipal Government of Magpet, North Cotabato.