Food producers from Armenia, Moldova, and Ukraine take part in world’s leading exhibition in Paris, with EU support
For the first time, 61 small and medium-sized food producers and four business associations from Eastern Europe, the South Caucasus and Central Asia took part together in SIAL Paris 2026, held from 17 to 21 October at the Paris Nord Villepinte exhibition centre. As one of the world’s leading food trade exhibitions, SIAL brings together thousands of exhibitors and international buyers, distributors and retailers.
The participation of SMEs and business associations is supported by three projects funded by the European Union and implemented by the International Trade Centre (ITC), including Armenia: Building Sustainable Apparel and Agribusiness Value Chains and EU4Business: Empowering Trade and Competitiveness in Eastern Partnership Countries (ETaC). The initiatives help expand the international presence of the participating businesses, while also promoting trade connections, knowledge exchange and cooperation across the region.
The participating companies include:
- 16 companies from Armenia, presenting dried fruits, sweets, teas and preserves;
- 9 SMEs from Moldova, producing dried fruits (mainly prunes), nuts, processed fruit products and confectionery;
- 5 SMEs from Ukraine, producing processed fruits, nuts and berries, alongside one business association UKRSADVINPROM.
“Taking part in SIAL was an excellent opportunity to strengthen relations with existing partners and to make new business contacts,” said Dorin Cibotaru, CEO, Nisvinex Grup from Moldova. “We met importers from Norway, the Netherlands, Hungary, Bulgaria, Cyprus, Egypt, Algeria and Morocco, and started talks on supplying dried prunes, pitted prunes and apple chips. With some of them we have already signed contracts and received orders for the coming period. On the national stand we had more visibility than we would have had on our own.”
Armen Zargaryan, ITC Regional Trade Promotion Adviser, said: “SIAL Paris is a gateway to global food markets. For many of these entrepreneurs, it is their first exhibition of this scale, and a chance to turn years of hard work into new business opportunities. Our goal is to help them build lasting commercial relationships that make their businesses more competitive.”
EU4Business is an umbrella initiative of the European Union that covers all the EU’s support to small and medium enterprises in Armenia, Azerbaijan, Georgia, Moldova, Ukraine.
The International Trade Centre is the joint agency of the World Trade Organisation and the United Nations. ITC assists small and medium-sized enterprises in developing and transition economies to become more competitive in global markets, thereby contributing to sustainable economic development
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