(MENAFN - Muscat Daily) The Oman Office Show was inaugurated at the Oman International Exhibition Centre (OIEC) on Monday by Khalil al Khonji, chairman of the Oman Chamber of Commerce and Industry (OCCI).Khonji also visited the various exhibition pavilions, accompanied by H E Dato Rustam Yahaya, Ambassador of Malaysia to Oman, and C J Paul, CEO of Global Exhibitions & Conferences (GEC), organisers of the event for the office and commercial fit-outs sectorSpeaking to Muscat Daily, Clemento Fernandes, projects director at GEC, said, ''We are more than happy with the response to the event even though this is the first event of its kind in Oman. We are expecting 1,000 to 1,500 visitors and half of them will be from UAE.''Fernandes said that of the 102 participating companies, 36 are from Oman and 66 from countries like US and Europe, most of the importers are carrying Asian and European product supplies.''We have posted a 60 per cent growth in furniture sales and an 80 per cent rise in total business every year since the start of the global economic slowdown,'' said M D Shaji, senior manager, operations, Dawood Office Furniture.''Asian furniture is getting more competitive in terms of design, quality, craftsmanship and durability, compared to European products and designs. We don't limit our products and supplies to one brand or one supplier. It depends on the client whether they would like it to be European or Malaysian, but the good thing about us is that we have a factory here which helps us to make faster deliveries,'' Shaji added.According to Hassam Hashimani, director of Hashimani Group, ''Most of our clients are government ministries and we have been receiving their support and trust for long, as we have been in this business since 1964. We strictly adhere to quality - be it Asian or European - because we know what our clients want. I can attest that products from Korea, Malaysia, Thailand and China are getting better and more competitive and are now able to compete with German, Italian and French designs.''''We posted a nearly 60 per cent growth in annual revenue and the future outlook is bright with businesses recovering from the slowdown,'' Hashimani added.
