E xecutives at the Expo Centre Sharjah one of the three leading trade fair ven ues in the Emirates are looking ahead with optimism They expect business conditions for the MICE sector to further improve with continued robust growth likely despite falling oil prices The International Monetary Fund forecasts that the economies of the member states of the Gulf Cooperation Council GCC will grow by an average of 4 5 percent in 2015 as they did last year One reason for this is that both gov ernments and consumers in the GCC states on the Arabian peninsula are still spending freely We don t expect any fundamental changes in the foreseeable future says Saif Mohammed Al Midfa CEO of the Expo Cen tre Sharjah Financial resources have been built up over years he argues These re sources are more than adequate to allow most economies to cope comfortably with the current situation Currency reserves and wealth fund assets in the GCC region amount to over 160 percent of gross domestic prod uct Given such favourable circumstances Saif Mohammed Al Midfa would like the trade fair centre to continue to make an im portant contribution to economic growth Sharjah has recently been growing at a rate of 8 percent This vibrancy has had a positive impact on the events in the centre s exhibi tion halls We had an extraordinary year in 2014 enthuses the Expo Centre Sharjah boss All our trade fairs were remarkable successes in terms of both exhibitor and vis itor numbers The focus was on further de veloping existing events Many of our flag ship trade fairs were augmented with new themes special pavilions and accompanying events reports Al Midfa That added value for everyone involved Moreover the mon ey spent in the emirate by trade fair partici pants boosted the economy further Sharjah is the industrial centre of the United Arab Emirates and boasts the most di versified economy Consequently some trade fairs hosted at the Expo Centre Sharjah are generated by the manufacturing sector where growth is strong The 11th SteelFab was held there just a few weeks ago at the end of January 2015 The metal working metal manufacturing and steel fabrication show is the industry s leading industry event in the region This trade fair meets the purchasing requirements of the region s industry explains Saif Mo hammed Al Midfa For some years now there has also been an extensive focus on welding and cutting at SteelFab There were almost 300 exhibitors and brands in this segment at the recent show In addition to further developing its own events such as SteelFab the Expo Centre Sharjah intends to attract more ex ternal organisers in future Thanks to the excellent international transport links the prospects of this happening are good Sharjah has its own airport and Dubai International Airport is only around 20 minutes away by car offering flights to destinations all over the world www expo centre ae PB TradeFairs Internation al 1 2015 INTERNATIONAL SHARJAH Spurred on by economic growth Despite falling oil revenues the economy is booming in the third largest emirate in the UAE The event industry is benefiting Alle unsere Messen verzeichneten bei der Aus steller und Besucherbeteiligung bemerkenswer te Erfolge sagt Saif Mohammed Al Midfa All our fairs had a remarkably successful exhibitor and visitor turnout says Saif Mohammed Al Midfa Der Messeplatz Sharjah lockt auch immer mehr fernöstliche Aussteller Expo Centre Sharjah also attracts a rising number of visitors from the Far East Ph ot o E xp o Ce nt re S ha rja h

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