COMDEX Saudi Arabia kicks off today with the Kingdom facing increasing challenges and opportunities in the area of information technology.

“It is a privilege and pleasure to welcome our professional IT visitors once again to COMDEX in Jeddah,” said Dr. Majed Al-Kassabi, secretary-general, Jeddah Chamber of Commerce and Industry and the Jeddah Marketing Board. “It hardly seems one year since we all met and enjoyed the exhibits at the first event!

“The Jeddah Chamber has been proud to play a central role in the development of the Saudi edition of this famous international exhibition series. For our second COMDEX Saudi Arabia, we have included a number of improvements, all designed to make your visit more productive.”

Al-Kassabi went on to explain that for this year the show has been expanded and would feature the products of over 300 manufacturers. The COMDEX professional show will be open from April 16-19 with hours running straight through from 10:30 a.m. to 7:30 p.m. daily.

The entire area of the Exhibition Center has been given over to the COMDEX professional show with the Shopper@COMDEX family show moved to an independent pavilion in the car park area.

Why is COMDEX being staged in Jeddah once again?

“It is worth restating that Saudi Arabia needs, more than ever, its own professional IT show,” said Al-Kassabi.

“Several hundred of us will fly each year to such events overseas — but not the more than 15,700 trade visitors who registered to attend the first COMDEX event last April.”

Al-Kassabi felt that it was important to point out that as one of the greatest business cities in the Arab world, Jeddah is well placed to support both the growth of the show and the growth of the Kingdom’s IT industry in coming years. He emphasized that despite the temporary decline in US high-tech stocks, the local IT market was expanding by leaps and bounds.

“In fact, it is hard for infrastructure services to keep up with the explosion of private and public demand,” Al-Kassabi added.

“The Jeddah Chamber,” Al-Kassabi pointed out, “hopes that COMDEX Saudi Arabia will help companies find the answers, the hardware and the software to support their growth, and reach their highest potential.”