Guwahati: Celebrating its silver jubilee this year, the International Guwahati Trade Fair promises to be the biggest trade extravaganza in recent times at Maniram Dewan Trade Centre from Friday.

Organised by the Industries and Trade Fair Association of Assam, this edition of trade fair, which will end on February 18, will have countries like Thailand, Bangladesh, Pakistan, Singapore, Afghanistan, Phillipines, Malaysia showcasing their products at the International Pavilion.

Events, a cultural evening featuring Zubeen Garg on February 9, have been planned.

Assam industry minister Chandra Mohan Patowary will formally inaugurate the fair on February 2 at 6pm.

The association of vice-president, Rajesh Das said, "Every year we try to bring something new for the people of Assam. We introduced Sumo wrestling and Thai boxing to the trade fair. We compete with ourselves to deliver something unique in every edition of the trade fair. This year, we are celebrating the silver jubilee and to make it memorable we have lined up a host of events like a mega fashion show on February 11 (Sunday) featuring some of the prominent designers of Assam like Meghna, Kunal Kaushik, Prasantt Ghosh, Garima Garg and Adityam Saikia. The show will be choreographed by former supermodel Tora Khasgir, who is also celebrating 25 years of her career along with designer Meghna. A prominent celebrity from Mumbai will be the showstopper of the show. We have also organised rock shows, music competition and art contest among schoolchildren. A cooking competition is also being organised by the Northeast Food Forum."

Foodies will love the food court at the fair which will feature outlets like Pizza Hut, Meat-n-Eat, Karachi Kitchen, Chandni Chowk, Tandoori Fusion, Ambala Dhaba, Arabian Night, Asian Flavors, Rasam Corner and others.

The National Small Industries Corporation Ltd pavilion will host 80 local artisans and co-operative societies.