Maher Abbas Saudi Gazette RIYADH – Oliver Frese, Senior Vice President of Hannover Messe 2013 – AHK (Hannover Industrial Exhibition 2013) expects Saudi Arabia to increase multifold its participation in the upcoming five-day exhibition on April 8-12, 2013, with a space of around 1,000 square meters. Frese and his accompanying delegation are currently in the Kingdom holding talks with their Saudi counterparts. The Hannover Messe is the biggest industrial fair in the world. Saudi companies will also increase their participation in the event as they will be under the Ministry of Commerce and Industry, instead of the Saudi Industrial Property Authority (Modon). During the first Saudi participation in the exhibition last April, there were only four Saudi companies on an area of 136 square meters. Andreas Hergenroether, Delegate of German Industry and Commerce for Saudi Arabia and Yemen, said developing Saudi participation under the Ministry of Commerce and Industry in the Hannover exhibition strengthens the partnership and strong relations between the two countries. He said the Coordination Office in Saudi Arabia has succeeded in developing the broad partnership between the private sectors in the two countries. Hergenroether told the Saudi Gazette that the volume of trade exchange between Saudi Arabia and Germany increased by 20 percent to 7 billion euros in 2011. The first six months of 2012 registered an increase of 36 percent. He added that automobiles, machinery, chemical products, medical machinery and products and mineral industries are the main exports of Germany to Saudi Arabia, while the Kingdom exports petroleum products and derivatives to Germany. Speaking to Saudi Gazette following a meeting he held Saturday in Riyadh with a number of Saudi businessmen and representatives of big Saudi industrial companies at Marriott Hotel, Frese said the exhibition's management attaches special importance to the second Saudi participation, considering the Kingdom to be one of the important economies in the world. He said the Saudi participation in the exhibition last year was an exploratory one which had positive results. Frese said Hannover is not just an exhibition for industrial companies from over 65 countries, but a platform to display the investment opportunities through holding about 1,000 meetings between investors and companies. He said 50 percent of the participants in Hannover are big industrial companies from outside Germany. He added “the Saudi government participation will be met with German government participation so as to boost the relations of cooperation and participation between the two countries in the industrial, commercial and joint ventures. It will be a unique opportunity for Saudi businessmen to meet big manufacturers and investors in the world." Frese called on Saudi companies to participate after global and German companies have monopolized 70 percent of the exhibition till now and earlier than last year. In a statement to Saudi Gazette during the meeting, Majdi Abdulaziz Al-Sahhaf, Adviser to the Minister of Commerce and Industry and Supervisor of the Saudi commercial attaché offices, said the Kingdom will participate in Hannover with a big number of companies and under the Ministry of Commerce and Industry so as to know the latest industrial technologies. He said the Saudi pavilion will include all the companies so as to give a push to Saudi industries to compete globally.
