Wednesday January 22, 2014 – The date of the 14th

Industrialists’ Conference “Industrial Exports: Opportunities and Challenges” was announced. The conference will be held on the 30th and 31st of March, 2014 at Al-Bustan Palace, Ritz Carlton Hotel, Muscat, Oman under the patronage of His Highness Sayyid Shihab bin Tareq al Said, Adviser to His Majesty the Sultan and with the participation of ministers of industry in GCC countries and Yemen. The conference is organised by Oman Ministry of Commerce and Industry and the Gulf Organization for Industrial Consulting (GOIC), in collaboration with the Public Establishment for Industrial Estates (PEIE), the Public Authority for Investment Promotion and Export Development in Oman (PAIPED) and Oman Chamber of Commerce and Industry (OCCI) and in coordination with the Secretariat-General of the Gulf Cooperation Council and the Federation of GCC Chambers (FGCCC).

 

A press conference was held at the headquarters of the Ministry of Commerce and Industry in Muscat, Oman to announce this important event. The event took place in the presence of His Excellency Engineer Ahmed Bin Hassan Al-Dheeb, Undersecretary of the Ministry of Commerce and Industry and Chairman of the Board of Directors of GOIC, Secretary General Mr. Abdulaziz Bin Hamad Al-Ageel, Mr. Mohammed Bin Khamis Al-Mukhaini, Assistant Secretary General for Industrial Information and Studies at GOIC, Engineer Nahla Bint Abdulwahab Al-Hamdi, GOIC Director General of Industry and representatives of the organisers and sponsors.

 

During this event, the official website of the conference http://www.incge.com/14/Index.html was launched.

HE Engineer Al-Dheeb stated that the conference will bring together industrialists from GCC countries and Yemen to discuss most important opportunities and challenges to industrial exports in these countries. According to Al-Dheeb, the industrial sector in Oman and all over GCC countries is one of the main pillars to develop economies. Gulf countries have indeed been particularly interested in backing this sector, particularly related to value added, creating job opportunities and integration with some other sectors. 
His Excellency considered that GOIC has played a major role in promoting the Gulf industrial sector through consulting services and expertise aiming at boosting Gulf industries. In addition, he highlighted the objective of the conference which is to promote Gulf investments, shed light on the current situation of industrial exports and the challenges in GCC countries and Yemen and creating new channels to reinforce business relationships with international markets and industrial multinationals. The conference also aims at strengthening relationships between Gulf countries and benefiting from the most important international success stories.

 

Furthermore, His Excellency mentioned that the conference will discuss several topics related to export industries in GCC countries and Yemen. Discussions will focus on legislations and study their impact on industrial exports, in addition to policies and mechanisms of investing and financing industrial exports. The conference will also examine a number of national and international experiences in the area of industrial export development. 

In his address, GOIC Secretary General Mr. Abdulaziz Bin Hamad Al-Ageel talked about the Gulf Industrialists’ Conference organised by GOIC and hosted in rotation between member states every other year. He said: “It is one of GOIC’s most important activities since its foundation in 1976. The recommendations of the previous conferences have indeed contributed in developing GCC industrial plans, particularly related to the industrial development strategy.”

Al-Ageel continued: “GCC exports increased after the global economic crisis; from 726.6 billion USD in 2008 to 1061.2 billion USD in 2012 (an average annual growth rate of 10%). This growth positively impacted the value of GCC industrial exports over the five previous years (an average of 12.8%); indeed, industrial exports’ value jumped from 158.5 billion USD in 2008 to 256.4 billion USD in 2012.”

 

The Secretary General added: “Statistics revealed positive results regarding the value of industrial exports out of the total exports in 2012 compared to 2011. There has been an increase of 256.4 billion USD (24.16% of the total exports) compared to 225.1 billion USD in 2011 (23.66% of the total exports). This growth in the value of industrial exports undoubtedly reflects the progress of the industrial sector in GCC countries and Yemen.”

“This remarkable progress was the main reason behind choosing the topic of the 14th Industrialists’ Conference by GOIC: “Industrial Exports: Opportunities and Challenges”. In fact, the Organisation is particularly interested in developing the industrial sector that plays a key role in supporting economies of GCC countries and Yemen. Therefore, the upcoming conference will focus on opportunities and challenges to industrial exports in Gulf markets and investment opportunities in this area”, opined Al-Ageel.

 

GOIC Secretary General indicated: “This conference will shed light on the current situation of industrial exports and the challenges in GCC countries and Yemen. It will discuss the possibility of building new channels to reinforce business relationships with international markets and multinational industrial companies. Furthermore, the objective is to lay the foundations of export trade in the Arabian Gulf to increase Gulf industrial exports to international markets. The conference will also focus on promoting relationships between Gulf countries and allowing small and medium industries and industrial entrepreneurs to invest in export industries and establish international export projects and companies. It will also introduce the most important international success stories and the possibility of replicating them in GCC countries and Yemen.”

Al-Ageel highlighted “GOIC’s endeavours to support Gulf industrial exports through several programmes. In this regard, the Organisation had launched the Gulf export development services seeking to promote industrial exports in international markets and to discuss activities related to developing exporting capacities in the Gulf. The ultimate objective is to promote Gulf products on international markets.”

 

Al-Ageel concluded: “We hope that the 14th conference’s recommendations will result in developing a unified and global strategy at the national and regional levels in GCC countries and Yemen. Such a strategy would boost and develop industrial exports that influence the economies of the countries in this region.”

 

A variety of valuable themes
The diverse themes of the 14th Industrialists’ Conference tackle the current situation of industrial exports in GCC countries and Yemen and the most important challenges. The conference covers legislations and study their impact on industrial exports through an in-depth discussion of all legislative, regulatory and legal aspects influencing GCC industrial exports at all levels. It also tackles relevant agreements between GCC countries and Yemen. Moreover, participants will examine policies and mechanisms of investment, financing and support to industrial exports while focusing on the role of governmental agencies and local investment funds to support export industries and attract national and foreign capital through financial incentives and tax cuts for companies, particularly in industrial cities and zones.

In addition to that, the conference will highlight local and international case studies in developing exports; they reflect different experiences of various countries in financing industrial exports, export support institutions, infrastructure (ports, transportation and telecommunications), access to regional and international markets and criteria and standards of exports. Participants will discuss national legislations and laws, and to which extent they are in line with relevant World Trade Organization (WTO) agreement. They will benefit from lessons learned by different countries and examine the possibility of replicating success stories in GCC countries and Yemen in the areas of credit and financing policies, legislations, laws and mechanisms.