JEDDAH, 5 December 2003 — Malaysia will showcase products and services of over 200 companies as part of the five-day International Trade Fair (SAITF), which opens at the International Exhibition and Convention Center on Madinah Road on Sunday.
Abdullah ibn Abdul Rahman Al-Hamoudi, deputy minister at the Ministry of Commerce’s Department of Foreign Trade, will open the SAITF, and soon after, Malaysian International Trade and Industry Minister Rafidah Aziz will inaugurate the Caravan Malaysia exhibition there.
The Malaysian exhibition will be spread over 3,000 sq. m. of the SAITF — the Kingdom’s 21st multi-sector trade expo for light industries, machinery, textiles and consumer goods. It is being organized by Al-Harithy Company for Exhibitions (ACE).
ACE Exhibitions Director Zahoor Siddique said apart from the Malaysian companies, some 30 firms from Indonesia, 25 from Thailand, 15 from Iran, 14 from Hong Kong, 12 from Turkey and eight from Pakistan will exhibit their products at the expo. “Western companies are participating through their agents and dealers,” he added.
“Last year’s SAITF resulted in deals worth SR150 million. This year’s expo is expected to exceed that figure,” said Dr. Talal Mashadi, deputy general manager at ACE. There are individual participants from Spain, Greece, Czech Republic.
“Malaysia is showcasing products and services related to electrical and electronics, automobile, IT, food and agriculture, furniture, building and construction, handicrafts and education,” Muhammad Ghazali Idris of the Malaysia External Trade Development Corporation said.
“Our trade with the Kingdom has increased by 48.2 percent to $788 million in 2002 from $526 million in 1998,” he said.
Some 45,000 Saudis visited Malaysia this year, which was a drop from the previous years, possibly due to the Iraq war, SARS and the Bali bombing.
