GV PAN & CU SIGN EXT Trade Fair

MV PAN Ngouabi arrives with wife as crowd look on (3 shots)

SV Ngouabi cutting tape to open fair

GV Trade Fair buildings

SV Pan Ngouabi & others touring fair

SV AGIP sign

SCU & CU Ngouabi inside



Initials ET/304



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Background: The 2nd National Congolese National Trade Fair was opened by the Congo Republic leader President Marien Ngouabi, in the capital, Brazzaville on Saturday (24 August).

This year the fair has attracted 77 exhibitors, though this is slightly down on last year's figure, when the National Trade Fair was organised to mark the tenth anniversary of the Congolese Revolution.

Trade Minister Boniface Hatingou assured private firms at the fair it was the state's duty to protest them.

Then the Minister promised that by 1980 it would become an international fair.

Among the stands the Ministers toured were those of the oil companies, Agip and Elf, who have the task of searching for oil in the Point-Noire area of the country.