Saudi Gazette JEDDAH — Educating the public and changing their perception toward some international companies in the field of construction and offering new workshops and seminars for free, are some of the incidents that attract a large number of people to attend Big 5 Saudi, the largest construction exhibition in Jeddah. The four-day event-taking place at the Jeddah Centre for Forums and Events was an opportunity for many international companies inside and outside the Kingdom to market themselves in the Saudi construction market. Some other Asian companies are available in the exhibition aiming to alter the public perception about their products and services quality. The sales supervisor, West KSA, of KINLONG, construction Hardware Expert company, York Liu explained that they participated in Big 5 Saudi to market their products and change the idea that people have about Chinese products and services. He added that there are many Chinese companies that produce high quality services. The Vice President of Dorset Company Atul Tyagi said "Big 5 is a very good platform for building material products to make the reach to maximum people. There is a seminar here where I will be definitely attending and I will try to give a presentation about our company and products." According to Portfolio Director at dmg Events Nathan Waugh, Big 5 Saudi updates and increases it educational sessions every year. "Some of the many new sessions available for visitors this year include Introduction to FIDIC conditions of contract, Safety Management and International Standards and the Durability of Concrete Structures. These sessions are held alongside repeat sessions, which are always highly popular such as Project Management," he said. Waugh added that the Saudi construction market remains the strongest in the Gulf area and the ambitious and long term plans of the Saudi government in the construction sector will ensure that any short-term impact from the economy is minimized. "Added to this, in challenging markets construction professionals look to grow and expand their knowledge, so we are seeing a tremendous amount of interest in our free to attend and certified workshops and seminars, as our visitors expand their technical knowledge in order to be better equipped to maximize their opportunities in all market conditions." He explained that as an international exhibition we bring in hundreds of exhibitors from around the world, most of them come to the event for over a week in total which provides an enormous benefit to the local economy, with hotels and restaurants being the main beneficiaries. "Many of these exhibitors are coming to the event to find a local distribution network for their products and when they succeed their products give the opportunity for local distributors to grow their business, providing long term growth to the local economy." The next Big 5 event will be The Big 5 Kuwait, which will take place in September and it will be the third time to be held in Kuwait.
