On 4 to 9 November 2012, South Africa will play host to the World Dairy Summit (WDS). The summit will be held at the Cape Town International Convention Centre and will draw more than a thousand international and local dairy industry leaders.
The event comprises governmental bodies, corporate dairy companies, organised agricultural leaders, dairy farmers, dairy processors and marketers.
The Minister of Agriculture, Forestry and Fisheries, Ms Tina Joemat-Pettersson said, “This event is very important as it not only exposes our local market to international trends, but also brings commercial and smallholder milk producers and dairy practitioners together. For South Africa especially, this kind of integration is important for skills transfers and for the opening up of new markets. Agricultural practitioners cannot operate in silos. We need partners”.
The WDS will be attended by 56 member countries of the International Dairy Federation (IDF) that represent 86% of the world dairy production community. The summit will deal with a number of issues relevant to the diverse stakeholders in the dairy industry, including dairy farmers, manufacturers, suppliers, academia, nutritionists, regulatory and food control authorities.
South Africa has been a member of the IDF for many years and is represented by the South African National Committee of the International Dairy Federation (SANCIDF). The Department of Agriculture, Forestry and Fisheries is also a member of this committee.
The Minister concluded that such events are important to expose the international dairy community to the technical and economic aspects of the South African dairy industry and vice versa.
For further information please contact:
Palesa Mokomele, Spokesperson for the Minister of Agriculture, Forestry and Fisheries
Cell: 082 904 1908
Telephone: 012 319 7876 (Pretoria) or 021 467 4502 (Cape Town)
Fax: 012 319 6681 (Pta) or Fax: 021 465 6550 (Cpt)
E-mail: PalesaM@daff.gov.za
