JEDDAH, 10 April 2005 — A Turkish solo exhibition showcasing machines and machinery accessories ended in Jeddah at the weekend after a five-day run, with participants reporting multimillion dollar deals.
Nearly 7,000 registered visitors — mostly traders, businessmen, engineers and other professionals — viewed various machines and machinery equipment displayed by 55 Turkish companies. The companies were represented by a 100-member delegation.
“We organized the show for the second year in a row and exhibitors have reported deals that run into millions of dollars. In fact, we are immensely pleased with the outcome of the show in the past two years and hope to make our solo show an annual event,” said Bulent Erten, board member and managing director of EXPOTIM — Istanbul-based International Fair Organizations Inc., which organized the event.
“After all, Saudi Arabia is one of the most important markets to Turkish industry and this premier event has served as a unique platform to expand commercial links between the two business communities,” he said. “Turkey is known for its excellent and competitive machine manufacturing industry backed by extensive research and development. So with our machines and equipment increasing our presence in the ever-expanding Saudi market and our enhanced skills, we’ll consider transferring technology and know-how with a training program for young Saudi technicians,” he added.
“We’ve repeated our participation in this show and have already been negotiating for selling some of our machineries,” said Fatih Gozukara, export executive of Istanbul-based Set Pack — Set Machinery Industries & Trade Co., which manufactures sachet machines. “We manufacture machines for packaging of items like sugar, salt, coffee and detergents and we’ve had a tremendous response,” Gozukara added.
Konya-based Yilmaz Foreign Trade Manager Mevlut Kircicek said his company’s flour milling machines appealed to the local business and trading community. “We’ve received orders for several machines,” Kircicek said. Mensur Saglam, general manager of SMS — Saqlam Machine Production based in Bursa, said many visitors evinced keen interest in the range of welding machines his company had displayed. “We’ve received many orders,” he said.
Visitors in general said they were impressed by the range of machines and machinery equipment Turkey displayed. “Hursan’s hydraulic press and workbench sets impressed me very much, “said a Saudi trader, Sulaiman Al-Ghamdi.
“I spent a lot of time with exhibitors of food processing and packing machines and will finally negotiate for some of them,” said Saudi businessman Ahmed Hafiz.
Foundry equipment and die casting machines on display fascinated another Saudi visitor, Muhammad Al-Sulaiman. I’ve been looking for such machinery and will negotiate for a deal and install them in my foundry,” he said.
Turkey will stage its third annual solo show for machine and machinery equipment in April 2006.
