On December 15th the Italian Cultural Institute of Addis Ababa hosted Expodental/IDEA Summit, a B2B event promoted by UNIDI - Italian Dental Industries Association and ICE/ITA - Italian Trade Agency.

More than 15 dealers from Ethiopia, Tanzania, Uganda and Kenya met 12 Italian Companies, resulting about 200 meetings in one day.

Expodental/IDEA Summit, opened by the Italian Ambassador in Addis Ababa Giuseppe Mistretta together with ICE/ITA, the UNIDI vice-President Gianfranco Berrutti and the local Association of Dentists is the first step towards the Italian Dental Industry development in the West African Countries. The 2017 edition of IDEA will take place at the UNECA (the United Nations Economic Commission for Africa) congress center in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia, from September 26 to 28, 2017. The event, to be supported by the Ethiopian Minister of Health, will be organized in partnership with the IADR (International Association of Dental Researchers) East and Southern Africa Division and the EADR (Ethiopian Association for Dental Research). The IADR Africa and Middle East (AMER) General Session and the 31st East and Southern Africa Division Annual meeting will take place together with the IDEA exhibition.

This event is part of a larger project promoted by UNIDI to support the Italian Dental Industry in getting a dominant position in the emerging markets. Last successfull UNIDI’s efforts towards internationalization were Expodental Meeting and IDEA Dakar.

For Expodental Meeting 2017 the cooperation with the Italian Trade Agency will be particularly intense, in order to make the event more and more international. In fact, last year the international participation has increased by 72%, with a large delegation with more than 60 buyers; next year no less than 100 delegates will meet the Italian companies in Rimini.

Another brilliant goal was reached in Dakar from 25th to 27th October 2016 with IDEA (International Dental Exhibition Africa): the presence of international dental companies and the comprehensive scientific programme attracted a large participation of dental professionals: more than 1.500 importers, distributors, sales agents, dental surgeons, dental technicians, hygienists and assistants who visited IDEA had the opportunity to buy consumables at competitive prices and to take part to the scientific events.