SAUDI GAZETTE JEDDAH — The 8th International Fair for Furniture and Interior Designing ‘DecoFair 2016' kicked off at Jeddah Hilton on Monday. It will conclude on Thursday. The exclusive international design trade show was inaugurated by Prince Faisal Bin Sultan Bin Naser Bin Abdul Aziz, chairman of the advisory board of Handcraft Charity Society in Makkah region. With the participation of 125 local and global brands from 10 countries, ‘DecoFair 2016' organized by "Reed Sunaidi Exhibitions" expects 7,000 visitors in its four days. Saudi experts and investors called for immediate action for global strategic alliances and partnerships to localize minimum 25% of furniture and interior design market that goes beyond SR10 billion per annum to boost Saudi industry as one of Vision 2030 poles to advance national economy and verify its resources boundless on oil. Prince Faisal Bin Sultan expressed his pleasure to inaugurate DecoFair 8th edition with its diversity to satisfy all interests in furniture, interior design, light, home accessories and textiles, kitchen utensils, sanitary ware and architectural services. He pointed out the importance of the exhibition as a main platform to meet local requirements on furniture, design and decor, pointing to raised imports of furniture to SR10 billion annually. Prince Faisal Bin Sultan, chairman of the advisory board of handcraft charity society in Makkah region, expects notable market increase with Vision 2030 that eyes attracting 1.5 million tourists, spotting that tourism sector is experiencing 35 thousand new hotel and housing units, while ministry of housing seeks to build 1.5 million housing units to fulfill requirements in five years time, noting that these challenges raise the market about 12% annually. Haya Sunaidi, chairman of Reed Sunaidi Exhibitions, expected that localizing furniture industry initiative in collaboration with international companies would receive interest from partners of success from different countries, expressing hope that these companies would open branches in Saudi Arabia, in light of manpower availability, Kingdom outstanding location and access to raw materials at a competitive cost. Sunaidi said DecoFair enables the gathering of major local and global furniture and design companies and is an opportunity for cooperation and trade communication and exchange of experiences between the companies and visitors. Rooney Haddad director of exhibitions at Reed Sunaidi said that 8th Decofaor hosts major and new companies, which are keen to participate and boost their presence in Saudi market through partnership or direct presence as a result of the recent reforms the kingdom, declared recently. Haddad noted that DecoFair covers nine major sectors, in addition DecoFair best design 2016 award will boost creative designers and highlight their designs and projects and enable business decision makers to communicate and collaborate with them. Specialized jury including a group of the most important and famous architects and international designers and developers would assess competing designs. He further said that DecoFair new edition comes to its advance and keeps abreast of current developments of national transformation 2020, noting that the exhibition organizes a program for investors and Saudi businessmen to meet with exhibitors to learn about their experiences and localization of the industry on global standards and criteria. DecoFair hosts 125 brands and 64 exhibitors from 9 countries mainly Spain, Portugal, Italy, Greece, Kuwait, Egypt, United Arab Emirates and Indonesia.
