Deputy Minister Narend Singh opens 2nd African Biotrade Festival in Johannesburg, 18 Sept

The Deputy Minister of Forestry, Fisheries and the Environment, Mr Narend Singh will open the 2nd African Biotrade Festival (ABF) on 18 September 2025 at the Sandton Convention Centre in Johannesburg, Gauteng.

The three-day festival – from 18 to 20 September 2025 - is organised and hosted by BioPANZA (Bioproducts Advancement Network of South Africa). BioPANZA is a coordination network established to address key challenges within the bioprospecting and biotrade sector. It operates under a national tripartite governance structure formalised through a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) between three government departments: the Department of Forestry, Fisheries and the Environment (DFFE), the Department of Science, Technology and Innovation (DSTI), and the Department of Trade, Industry and Competition (the dtic). This collaboration reflects the broad mandate and value chain coverage of the bioprospecting/biotrade sector, making BioPANZA a collective initiative of these three departments.

The festival celebrates and promotes efforts by value chain actors and supporters to increase confidence in availability, quality, consistency and traceability of southern African plant ingredients and products. It will also showcase the enabling biotrade environment that has been developed over the past few years.

The festival will create a platform to discuss and address biotrade challenges and opportunities, with an emphasis on market access, building business support networks, and creating linkages within the wider biotrade ecosystem. Furthermore, the festival will provide an opportunity to launch BioPANZA.

Members of the media are invited to attend and cover the opening of the festival as follows:
Date:         18 September 2025   
Time:         09h00
Venue:       Sandton Convention Centre, 161 Maude St, Sandown, Sandton

To RSVP, please contact Michael Mokoena 082 867 5634 / mmokoena@dffe.gov.za or Banele Mabena 066 420 0144 / smabena@dffe.gov.za

For media enquiries, please contact:

Peter Mbelengwa
Cell: 082 611 8197 
E-mail: pmbelengwa@dffe.gov.za  

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