Saudi- New laws to regulate holding of exhibitions

(MENAFN- Arab News) Tariq Al-Essa, project manager at the Saudi Exhibition and Convention Bureau, said that the national program approved by the Council of Ministers as an independent entity for the development of the conferences and exhibitions sector in Saudi Arabia will start early September. He said the program would implement the regulations and bylaws of the Ministry of Commerce and Industry's Permanent Committee for Exhibitions and Conferences until plans and policies to develop the sector are approved. These will be announced at the Saudi Forum for Exhibitions and Conferences in Jeddah on Nov. 13-14. Al-Essa said the Council of Ministers entrusted the national program to grant licenses to premises and facilities for exhibitions and conferences in Saudi Arabia and to control and rehabilitate the organizing companies and institutions in coordination with authorities. He added that the Saudi Commission for Tourism and Antiquities (SCTA) is linked to the program since its chairman is also the president of its supervisory committee. He added there are three types of such kind of activity in Saudi Arabia. Exhibitions, firstly, are organized by specialized institutions to ease meetings between buyers and sellers in a cost-effective manner. Charitable exhibitions are temporary markets run by a charity and whose revenues, achieved through direct selling, are for charitable purposes. Thirdly, there are temporary markets for individuals and shops selling at low prices. Investors in gold and jewelry say the conferences and exhibitions sector has been negatively affected by exhibitions that are poorly organized and provide no protection for merchants and consumers. They said these exhibitions contributed to lowering jewelry sales in Saudi Arabia by 50 percent as of the beginning of 2013 with further gloomy predictions for this sector in the coming years. "The exhibitions held in Saudi Arabia have negatively affected the volume of sales in gold and jewelry because of the weakness of organization, lack of control over them and in failing to specify necessary conditions. Jewelry has a high financial value that depends on trust," said Thamer Al-Thubaiti, an investor in the gold and jewelry sector. He added that the Ministry of Commerce gave exhibitors from foreign countries incentives to display their exhibits in large quantities without taxes. This has negatively affected the Saudi jeweler. He said the holding of exhibitions is a principal demand for the exchange of expertise and manufacturing in light of the international competition faced by this sector. Exhibitions should be held in an organized manner while respecting the rights of the foreign exhibitor, Saudi investor and consumer. "Gold can't be prevented from being sold in exhibitions and it can't be sold in its present form. In the end, gold and jewelry exhibits would have to be separated from commercial exhibitions and removed from charities and bazaars," he added.