JEDDAH, 21 May 2005 — The International Trade Fair ended here on Thursday night with multi-sectoral exhibitors claiming “unprecedented success” in terms of business deals.
More than 12,000 visitors from different fields of trade and industry, as well as senior company executives and professionals visited the fair during its five-day run.
A majority of over 150 exhibitors from 17 countries were first-timers and they claimed that their participation served the purpose of finding local agents or distributors, and also reaching or in the process of concluding deals that could run into multi-million dollars.
“All of our 36 exhibitors at the show have found the fair extremely rewarding to boost their exports. They all are enthusiastically looking forward to continuing their negotiations with local importers, traders and businessmen,” Indo Arab Chamber of Commerce & Industries’ Executive Director Sunanda Rajendran said. Most of the exhibitors who participated for the first time said they were more than pleased with the response from the business community.
Aside from India, there were seven other countries with their national pavilions showcasing products of their respective countries and individual companies from nine other countries.
Diplomats from many other countries were at the expo, especially studying the interests of their own exhibitors and comparing their products with the competing groups.
A cross-section of visitors — mostly importers, traders and professionals — interviewed said they were immensely pleased with the fair. “Only such exhibitions provide a view of a vast variety of multi-sectoral products from many countries under one roof,” said Khaled ibn Muhammad Al-Raya, a clothing and textiles trader from Makkah. “Aside from quality, pricing is the name of the game for any overseas exhibitor or exporter. Surely, anything that is of top quality and priced competitively will catch the attention of the local market,” said Khalid ibn Muhammad Al-Mowallad, a Saudi trader who traveled from Taif.
According to Indonesia’s East Java Chamber of Commerce executive Fermanda Reza and other exhibitors, the exhibition has provided them an insight into the potential of this ever-growing market.