The Saudi pavilion at "The Big 5" trade show officially opened Monday (Nov. 21) at the launch of the four-day largest gathering dedicated to construction, contracting and building solutions in the Middle East in Dubai World Trade Center. The KSA pavilion has seen a remarkable turnout of visitors in its four years of participation in the annual event. This time, around 60 Saudi companies specialized in construction and building materials look forward to make new trading deals and sign strategic partnership contracts and cooperation with a number of regional and international real estate and construction companies during the exhibition. Ahmed bin Abdulaziz Alhakbani, Secretary General of the Saudi Export Development Authority (Saudi Exports), said the Saudi participation in the exhibition comes as part of the Authority's strategic plan to increase non-oil exports and introduce the regional contracting sector to construction materials made in Saudi Arabia. He said "the Authority was keen, over the last four years, on being present in major events and exhibitions, especially The Big 5 exhibition, due to its strong presence on regional and global levels. Saudi Exports provided all the fundamental requirements for Saudi companies participating in the exhibition and supported them to meet a range of companies and institutions owners and investors interested in construction and building sector in the region." He further said "the Saudi Export Development Authority's participation in specialized international exhibitions is one of the services provided by the Authority, via showing national companies' representatives in the Saudi pavilion supervised by Saudi Exports and demonstrate their productive capabilities representing national industry." athat the Saudi companies are able to benefit from this exhibit through opening new export channels, attracting future business opportunities and expanding the volume of investment partnerships in regional and global markets. He added: "The Saudi pavilion participating in The Big 5 aims to promote KSA's exports of construction and building materials to all the Gulf states and international markets. It will also highlight the value of Saudi products and their supremacy over other products in terms of quality and price, along with meeting the construction and building requirements in the region, besides introducing local companies to the available opportunities in international markets and ways to benefit from them via showing their products, and exchanging meetings with new and potential clients." Alhakbani emphasized that the Saudi Export Development Authority's strategy includes continuing to explore export opportunities in international markets constantly due to the importance of increasing and diversification of exports portfolio towards export markets in line with government efforts aiming at promoting non-oil sectors contribution in the national economy, paying tribute at the same time to the strong presence of Saudi companies in the exhibition, which in turn provides a lot of investment opportunities, promotes business for Saudi companies, gives access to competitive market with global companies in construction and building industry and achieving profitable returns in Saudi construction sector. The Authority looks toward creating an added value for Saudi manufacturers through its efforts and activities, which reflects positively on national economy in general, and on the growth of national construction business in particular, by stimulating and enabling the companies to develop their business in the international markets, and benefit from the available opportunities through training workshops offered all year round or through participation in specialized international exhibition organized by Saudi Export Development Authority in many sectors, plus bilateral meetings and business forums. The Big 5 offers participating companies and visitors alike, the opportunity to look at the latest updates and trends in regional market and to build new partnerships with potential clients, as well as get the latest information related to all aspects of construction and building industry. — SG
