An aid agency was on hand in Berlin to help new companies and countries to find new markets in the EU.

The Swiss import promotion programme, SIPPO, is intended to assist small and medium-sized businesses from developing and transition.

This year the agency had 16 firms on its stand, from countries including Bulgaria, Ecuador, Ghana, India, Jordan, Macedonia and from Serbia and Montenegro.

Products on offer included fresh, dried and frozen woodland mushrooms, dried fruit such as pineapples, papayas and mangos, as well as fresh fruit such as red bananas, tamarillos and yellow pitahayas.

There was also an agricultural enterprise from Palestine, attending for the first time, which was looking for buyers for its apples, strawberries, tomatoes, cucumbers, potatoes, green beans and herbs.