JEDDAH – More than SR70 million deals and around 20000 visitors have been announced at the final day of Saudi Building & Interiors Exhibition (SBIE) 2015 which ended recently at Jeddah's Centre for Forums & Events. The 24th comprehensive showcase for the industry held on May 11-14 had a record participation of more than 300 exhibitors are participating in the exhibition representing Bahrain, China, France, Egypt, India, Italy, Lebanon, Malaysia, Morocco, Taiwan, Turkey, a number of Saudi companies and leading manufacturers, agents and distributors to showcase an extensive range of the latest building materials, construction equipment, wood machinery, interior furnishings and other products. Zahoor Siddique, Vice President-Exhibitions of Al Harithy Company for Exhibitions, said: “We are extremely pleased with the attendance throughout the four days and particularly with the impressive contracts and deals which made through this exhibition.” This year at SBIE representatives of building and decoration companies was positive about the usefulness of displaying their tools at the event. In addition to regional and international participation, the exhibition has been the ideal platform for domestic companies. Saudi FORSAN Ceramics showcased their products, and the response, according to the company's sale manager, was “brilliant”. The event turned out to be positive for us,” said Ahmed Al-Dumairi, FORSAN Sales Manager. “Opportunities like Cityscape bring together industry leaders and provide the perfect setting for us to share knowledge, experiences and expertise as well as gauge pressing challenges that our business environment imposes on us,” Al-Dumiri added. He also said “The purpose of our participation was to look for local and international partners aside from showcasing our products and services and we really had great outcome.” Most of the exhibitors from various countries said they had either concluded successful deals running into million riyals. Frederic Fievet, president of SADEV, Architectural Glass System, said “it was our first show in Saudi Arabia. The exhibition saw a good turnout since it opened and the opportunity was ours to showcase our latest projects to every visitor that visited our stand, as well as the exhibition in general.” Meanwhile, Ghassan Tabbakha, managing director of ULTISOL for building and construction added “we decided to seize the opportunity to take part in SBIE 2015 here in Jeddah in order to offer our new projects, especially since it is a meeting point for leading major building companies in Saudi Arabia and the GCC.” Commenting on their participation at this year's SBIE, Malaysian commercial attache Kerol Anwar pointed out it was a positive participation for Malaysian companies, he said “we have promoted our services and products include construction, engineering, architectural, project management, landscaping works including playground design and installation, customized solar panel systems, switches, cable boxes, sockets, safety films, switchboard enclosures, aluminum pipes and fittings. Our representatives were satisfied of the turn out.” — SG
