JEDDAH, 16 April 2007 — Turkey has displayed its latest industrial machines and equipment at an exhibition opened by Jeddah Governor Prince Mishaal ibn Majed here yesterday.
Exhibits indicate the rapid progress Turkey is making in machine and machinery equipment and services, the governor remarked during a tour of the show being held at the Jeddah International Exhibition and Convention Center.
“Labeled ‘Machitech ‘07’, the exhibition follows the success of the previous two editions,” a spokesman for Istanbul-based International Fair Organizations Inc. (Expotim) and Al-Harithy Company for Exhibitions Ltd., which are jointly organizing the show, said yesterday.
“This is the only exhibition focusing on heavy machinery and equipment in the Kingdom officially supported by the Turkish government,” he said. The show featuring new machinery, equipment and advanced technology offers its existing and potential distributors, agents and manufacturers a new line of business opportunity.
JCCI Chairman Saleh Turki and Turkish Ambassador Naci Koru told a press conference later that trade between the two countries was expanding steadily.
“Turkey has tremendous potential to increase its exports to the Kingdom not only of machine and machinery equipment but also of many other products and services,” Turki said. Turkey was making rapid strides in real estate and it could exploit the potential that exists in the booming economy of the Kingdom with five new cities coming up.
“Saudi companies are by and large medium entities and that could explain why the bilateral trade volume is not big enough,” Turki said, adding that tourism and education, especially student exchange programs on an increasing scale, could contribute toward further promoting bilateral relations. “Education is not only a relationship but an industry today,” he added.
The two-way trade is worth around $1 billion and that could increase by another $200 million this year. “But that’s not enough considering the export potential that Turkey has in terms of industries and services,” the ambassador said. Turkey has 15 universities teaching English and they could attract an increasing number of Saudis. As it is, very few Saudi students are going to Turkey for education, he added.
Exhibition profile includes wood working machines; parts and accessories; packing and filling machines; metal processing machines; die casting machines and parts; food processing and packing machines; construction and mining equipment and machinery; cranes, lifting, loading and transporting equipment; dies for sheet metal forming and plastics cutting tools, tool holders, parts holders, parts and components production for automotive industry; special purpose machines, plastic, rubber and bakelite processing machines, pneumatic machines, equipment and systems; pump, turbine and valve machine tools, and iron and steel.
The trade-only show will continue up to April 18.
