The 2nd International Kerasma Conference on Greek Gastronomy and the Food, Wine and Spirits Industry Partenariat, organized by the Hellenic Foreign Trade Board (HEPO) at Heraklion Crete and Santorini, on June 8- 10, 2007, came to a close with great success for the Greek exports of food, wine and spirits. It was the biggest meeting of food, wine and spirits buyers and producers ever held in Greece.

For three days, the Greek products were at the centre of interest of 230 foreign buyers and journalists from around the world, enabling 154 Greek producers to exhibit their products, talk with representatives of the biggest global distribution channels and retail chains and close significant deals.

The goals of the 2nd International Kerasma Conference on Greek Gastronomy and the Food, Wine and Spirits Industry Partenariat, were the following:

• To showcase and promote the greek competitive advantages
• To help greek businesses develop networking and sales dexterities
• To provide support to private initiatives for business growth
• To emphasise and promote quality
• To emphasise and promote extroversion
• To promote networking and cooperation among greek companies
• To facilitate networking, communication and contacts between greek companies and foreign distribution channels, buyers and the media

The conference, which was organized under the auspices of the Ministry of Economy and Finance and the Ministry of Development, was inaugurated by Mr Yannis Spyropoulos, the General Secretary of the Ministry of Economy and Finance, and Mr Spyros Efstathopoulos, the Special Secretary of the Ministry of Development. Representatives of local authorities and professional bodies greeted participants with a welcome address.

For the preparation and the realisation of the event, C&C International Group of Companies, undertook the following activities:

• Communication - publicity- promotion - of the Partenariat,

including the design, creation and production of above- and below- the line promotional material and events (web site, publications, press conference, press releases, articles, radio & TV spots, e.t.c).

• Design and implementation of the invitation strategy for the invitation of participating businesses, journalists, related organizations and VIPs, from Greece and the abroad

This task included the totality of the required steps for the invitation of businesses, journalists, related organizations and VIPs from Greece and abroad, including the compilation of contact lists, the drafting of invitation letters and all follow-up procedures.

• Design, preparation and execution of the actual event,

including venue selection and preparation, securing of audiovisual and other equipment, the setting up of exhibition spaces, and the arrangement of special presentations and side events, such as on-site visits to farms and factories and tastings of greek products and recipies.

• Assessment of the event

Web campaign

For the Partenariat, CnC International designed and set up special web site (http://www.kerasma.gr/) featuring informative Greek and English content for the organisation, the event and the participating companies, recipes, the conference and events programme, presentation of the professionals and the products, and including a periodically updated press section.

Conference details

The conference, a high profile international scientific meeting, was attended by world famous special scientists on nutrition, among who were professors Dimitris Trichopoulos, Antonia Trichopoulou, Antonis Kafatos and Peter Boyle, top international speakers, journalists and gastronomy professionals such as David Rosengarten, Gordon Ramsay, Tsukiko Hattori and Steven Olson.

The presence of chef Gordon Ramsay at the conference was a particularly notable event, as the world renowned chef strongly supports Greek products, presenting the strategy both chefs and restaurants should follow in order to promote Greek products at targeted markets. Gordon Ramsay is the owner of an esteemed 13-restaurant chain in Great Britain, USA and Japan that has been awarded with 10 Michelin stars, and is the author of many cookbooks.

On the 2nd day of the conference, planned meetings between buyers from USA, Canada, Russia, China, Korea, Australia, UAE etc and Greek producers took place, followed by visits to producers' sites and workshops.

Finally, on the 3rd day of the conference, wine specialists travelled to Santorini where they visited vineyards and Greek wine manufacturers and had a wine tasting - lunch.