Gitex Saudi Arabia 2009
Nowhere in the Middle East are more computers and IT applications being sold than in regionally-unrivalled economic powerhouse Saudi Arabia. In fact, Saudi Arabia accounts for a massive 40% of total computer and IT application sales in the Middle East as a whole, worth close to $5 billion. PC and notebook sales continue to soar and a surge an Internet usage, e-commerce and e-banking are driving sales of related hardware and software applications skyward. And as an excess-liquidity-fuelled construction boom generates ever-more office space, demand is also spiralling for a vast array of office technology, Internet services, and mobile and wireless networking systems.
Middle East Internet Users Expected to Triple to 25 Million by 2008, Creating Scores of Investment Opportunities
The pace of development is so strong in Saudi Arabia that the country’s current estimated 1.5 million users are expected to triple within two years. That’s extraordinary when you consider that the Internet only emerged in Saudi Arabia in 1998 – and back then all connections ran through a government server.
Where better to hold the renowned GITEX exhibition, one of the world’s premier IT technology shows, than in the vibrant Saudi capital Riyadh – which hosts the event in collaboration with the Dubai World Trade Center. Riyadh is a bustling cosmopolitan city. It’s Saudi Arabia’s governmental and corporate capital and counts a variety of schools, universities and research institutes – all of which are driving IT and computer demand. As Riyadh’s population doubles to around six million in the coming five years or so, this demand is set to rise further. And as it rises, the already countless opportunities for foreign investors will increase yet further.
If you participate in this world-famous exhibition, you’ll find yourself at the heart of not just one country’s dramatically expanding Internet market, bit in the midst of an entire region’s remarkable Internet and IT technology development. Total Internet users in the Middle East are projected to more than triple, to 25 million, by 2008.
In addition to providing a perfect platform for IT technology and computer providers’ latest products and ensuring maximum exposure to the industry’s leading players, as well as to a variety of high-power Saudi public decision-makers, the GITEX exhibition will offer participants the opportunity to benefit from an exciting series of workshops and conferences involving leading IT professionals from across the region and world. So not only will participants be seizing great person-to-person.<