Global Table

Food + Wine Victoria, the organisation behind the iconic Melbourne Food & Wine Festival, today announced it has been selected to deliver Global Table, the new internationally-focused agriculture, food and beverage business event.

The largest food business event ever staged in Australia, Global Table is part of the Taste Victoria strategy launched today by the Victorian Government, with the first event to be held in Melbourne in September 2019. Global Table will involve a series of business events, aligned to position Australia as the destination for investors and traders to connect with business leaders from around the world.

Global Table will partner with the world's leading food innovation event, Seeds&Chips - The Global Food Innovation Summit. Since it was established in Milan four years ago, Seeds&Chips has grown into an international meeting point for innovators, policy makers and global leaders to develop solutions for the common good. Seeds&Chips' mission is to bring together innovators from around the world to find practical solutions through collaboration and cooperation and to lead the international discussion about the future of food, with past speakers including President Barack Obama (2017), former Secretary of State John Kerry (2018) and Starbucks Executive Chairman Howard Schultz (2018).

Food + Wine Victoria Chairman Radek Sali said, "Food + Wine Victoria is thrilled to be delivering Global Table - a unique platform to showcase Victoria's agriculture, food and beverage capability to the region's top investors and traders. As an organisation, we are passionate about encouraging and enabling industry to unlock the enormous growth opportunities available.

"Melbourne - Australia's event capital - is the ideal destination for this globally important event. From our farms, wineries, breweries and laboratories to our cafes, markets, restaurants and bars, I've got no doubt international visitors will be impressed by what they experience during Global Table."

Global Table will be an important part of Victoria's event calendar, supporting the State's $12.8 billion food and fibre export sector and its $7.3 billion international visitor economy.

Minister for Agriculture Jaala Pulford said, "Victoria leads the nation when it comes to food and fibre and we are committed to ensuring this industry continues to grow so the Victorian economy can benefit."

Chairman and Founder of Seeds&Chips Marco Gualtieri said, "We are so pleased to announce our presence in Australia next year. Food, technology, innovation, young people, sustainability, food security: these are just some of the themes that we'll be working on throughout the Summit. We hope to champion these issues on a continent full of opportunity with an acute awareness of environmental issues and a strong innovation infrastructure.

"As such, I am particularly grateful to the Victorian Government, Food + Wine Victoria, Melbourne and Australia for their foresight and willingness to gather all that we have learned over the years as well as their recognition of the importance of the themes that we are advancing and the enormous economic opportunity that they represent. Over the years, Seeds&Chips has grown with the aim and the conviction to continue building upon the legacy of Expo 2015 by emphasizing both the importance of these subjects and the potential for economic development associated with them."

Further details about Global Table 2019, including the venue, speakers and program, will be announced in coming months.

Visit www.globaltable.com.au for more information.