JEDDAH, 21 March 2008 — A delegation of eight security companies organized by the British Security Industry Association (BSIA) concluded their weeklong second visit to Saudi Arabia and Bahrain on Tuesday.
BSIA Overseas Promotions Manager Peter Nicholls was quietly pleased with the reaction to the second visit. “Our visit to Alkhobar saw a 100 percent and Riyadh a 50 percent increase in local visitors to the mission,” he said. “There seems to have been a clear development in the security market here.” He said that the levels of interest were right across the security market and driven by the huge number of infrastructure projects under way. “What is particularly encouraging is that security solutions are being incorporated at the design stage of projects and not just added as accessories later.”
The visit was specifically part of the continuous effort by the British security industry to build links with the Middle East and the general strategy to increase international trade between the UK and Saudi Arabia.
He thought that a growing area — worldwide as well as in the Kingdom — was for integrated management security systems. Integrating security, fire control, access and a building’s internal environmental systems into an integrated whole made for a safer and more pleasant living and workspace. “IT leads the way to develop the “intelligent building”; I feel that this is the new growth area,” he opined. “One particular area where the UK is a market leader is in CC TV security,” he said.
He recalled that the 2007 visit to the region was extremely successful. “I’m sure this one will be the same,” he said. Several of the mission members had returned in the last year to progress interest in their products.
Duncan Gerrard of APD Communications said that he was delighted to taking part in this year’s mission to Saudi Arabia and Bahrain. “This is following on from last year’s event which was hugely successful in informing us of the current state of the market.”
The BSIA is the only UK trade association that requires its members to be independently inspected to the internationally recognized quality standard ISO 9001:2000 with a UKAS accredited certification body.
This provides independent assurance that a company is run professionally and also covers relevant British and European standards and/or BSIA codes of practice. Its 570 plus members are responsible for more than 70 percent of the security business in the UK.
The delegate companies have extensive experience and knowledge across a range of security products from CCTV, to access control, perimeter detection, alarm monitoring software and data tracking systems.
