The stage is set in Jeddah for hosting the 2015 Machinex Arabia from Feb. 9-12.

More than 150 national and international companies are exhibiting in the event being held at Jeddah Center for Forums and Events.

The fifth edition of Machinex Arabia, organized by Al-Harithy Company for Exhibitions (ACE), will showcase new machinery, equipment, products and services from leading industrial countries.

The exhibition will be held in parallel with Propac Arabia, Saudi Arabia’s 20th international event for production and processing, printing and packaging, plastic and chemicals, and is the largest and ideal networking and marketing platform that will gather key figures, decision-makers and manufacturers from the global industrial machinery and equipment sectors.

The show has been further expanded to include Metal & Steel, described as Saudi Arabia’s premiere show for metal working, metal manufacturing and steel fabrication industry.

The concurrent events are being staged at a time when industrial diversification is gaining momentum, supported by the Kingdom’s generous assistance to establish new industries thus opening not only business opportunities but also employment and technical knowledge to the youth and working toward a comprehensive goal of achieving self-reliance through local production.

The exhibition will create a platform for international companies from Egypt, Finland, Germany, India, Italy, Jordan, Lebanon, Sweden, Turkey, the UAE, the UK and the United States to interact and share the technical-knowhow with their Saudi counterparts and also assess the local market requirements.

The complementary events will ensure maximum footfall and business potential to both the Saudi and international business communities.

"The exhibition is an outstanding platform for businesses to enter into joint ventures in industry and explore the business opportunities in the most promising market in the region. Therefore, we are expecting a bigger success this time around," Zahoor Siddique, ACE's VP for exhibitions, said.

“This exhibition is very important because of the expansion of the industries, which leads to the increase in the demand for new machinery, equipment, and transfer of technology from leading industrial countries,” he added.

The exhibition categories have been expanded this year to feature more machinery and services for factories. They include cleaning, recycling and treatment, compressors and generators, construction, electrification and climate control, factory plant and machine tools, material handling and vehicles, measuring and weighing devices, metal working, die-casting and welding, mining, oil and gas, operations, maintenance and training, plastics and rubber/injection, printing and packaging, processing, filling and bottling, pumps and turbines.