Against a background as Germany's most historical and, with over 100 international trade fairs, its most important market place, Messe Frankfurt holds a position of great significance compounded by its activities as a global organizer of fairs and exhibitions. When it comes to ranking Germany's major fair grounds, Frankfurt Fair and Exhibition Centre comes out top in terms of the number of supra-regional events, as well as the number and the degree of internationality on the exhibitor side. In 1995, Frankfurt Fair and Exhibition Centre was the venue for 23 international trade fairs (with a 55 percent level of internationality), nine trade exhibitions and elevent events for the general public. These events were attended by a good 42.000 exhibitors and 1.6 million buyers.
115 Finnish exhibitors took part in fairs in Frankfurt. They showed home decorations and design, as well as glass and designer jewellery. Particularly favoured among the events organized by Messe Frankfurt were Ambiente (25), the Autumn Fair (15) and the Heimtextil. Altogether, some 3.000 visitors made the trip to Frankfurt. In the case of Messe Frankfurt events, the Automechanika developed into the undisputed leader with 1.026 Finish visitors. In second and third places came Premiere and Heimtextil with 286 and 244 visitors respectively.
New in the Messe Frankfurt programme of events for 1995 is Take off, a two day trade meeting held in advance of the Interstoff at Frankfurt Airport (21 to 22 February). The maximum of 50 specially selected European manufacturers is designed to guarantee the high quality standard of this two-day working event. Another new event is bondtec, the first international trade fair for surface and finishing techniques, which will be held parallel to Techtextil from 20 to 22 June. The products and services offered for these techniques at Bondtec include machinery, plant, testing equipment, adhesive and sealing masses, production, drying and testing processing and recycling methods, all of which play a major part in the production of composites, to which technical textiles also belong.
In the course of the expansion of the programme of international events for the global market, four new events are being added this year to the five overseas events already oranized by Messe Frankfurt, which ended last year with an increase of 11.4 percent in the number of exhibitors and growth of over 21 percent on the visitor side. The Interior in Hong Kong will open its doors in April when, from the 18th to the 20th, visitors will be able to see the product groups interior design, home and household textiles, domestic lighting and bathroom, sanitation and kitchen equipment on 9.000 square metres of exhibition space. In Singapore, the International Spring Fair Singapore will make its debut from 17 to 21 May with a product spectrum very similar to that of the Frankfurt consumer-goods fairs. As the sixth Messe Frankfurt textile trade fair outside Germany, the Baltic Textile and Leather will be held in conjunction with the local light-industry association in the Lithuanian city of Vilnius from 12-to 15 September. Also already in preparation is the Musik-Showtechnik '95 which, in cooperation with the Expo Center Moscow, will launch the first music fair in the Commonwealth of Independent States.
