JEDDAH: MACHINEX Arabia, Saudi Arabia's international machinery and equipment exhibition, organized by Al-Harithy Company for Exhibitions (ACE), under the auspices of Dr. Tawfiq Bin Fawzan Alrabiah, the director general of Saudi Industrial Property Authority, will open today (Sunday) until Feb. 23 at the Jeddah Centre for Forums and Events. Turkey will be the largest participant with 52 of its companies, displaying a wide range of latest machinery and services, said Zahoor Siddique, exhibitions director at ACE. The large Saudi contingent will display machinery and equipment from Austria, China, Finland, France, Germany, Iran, Spain the United States and the UK. Other participants are from Italy, Portugal and UAE. Described as Saudi Arabia's premier international machinery and equipment exhibition, MACHINEX Arabia is aimed at pursuing the Saudi government's policy, to greatly reduce reliance on imports with the aim of achieving self-sufficiency. “The exhibition brings new machinery, equipment and advanced technology to the Kingdom, offering distributors, agents, manufacturers and the industry at large new lines of plant and manufacturing opportunities,” he added. “MACHINEX Arabia provides businessmen, entrepreneurs and industry with a unique opportunity to plan, invest, set up, operate and expand to explore the huge prospects prevailing in the region's most lucrative market, and a perfect annual meeting place for global suppliers of machinery and equipment “ Siddique added. The exhibition is being held at a time when the Kingdom is shaping to become a land of opportunity for manufacturing and industrialization, he further said. The Kingdom is currently investing in the biggest expansion program of history, with a budget of $400 billion to transform its infrastructure by 2020. Commerce and industry are already expanding to support this dramatic growth, and build an industrial base to replace the Kingdom's oil income.
