JEDDAH, 18 March 2004 — Participants reported multimillion riyal deals during COMDEX 2004, an IT trade show, which ended after a four-day run at the Jeddah International Exhibition and Convention Center last night. Exhibitors also launched new products at the expo.
Exhibitors said it was difficult to quantify the deals, as some of them are still under negotiation. “We will follow up and finalize the deals that will run into several million riyals,” one of them speaking on behalf of exhibitors said.
Most of the overseas participants said they had succeeded in locating new agents or distributors for their products in the Kingdom. “Our main objective here was to locate a local distributor and we succeeded,” said Fuad Abdel-Rahman, an executive of Canada-based CTI Datacom Inc.
Visitors, who mostly comprised trade experts and professionals, said the show would benefit Saudi Arabia’s IT industry in maintaining its position as one of the fastest growing markets in the Arab world. The Kingdom has embarked on mega projects aimed at expanding the IT infrastructure.
“The entire telecommunications network, for instance, has been fully digitized. The show will certainly go a long way in bringing in latest technology to this part of the world,” an IT executive visiting the show said.
