Gitex Saudi Arabia ended its four days of business-to-business networking activities on a successful note displaying the latest developments and emerging trends within the buoyant Saudi ICT sector.

The 10th edition of the Kingdom's information technology exhibition witnesssed record visitor turnout and significant international participation.

Inaugurated by Khalid bin Mohammed Al-Gusaibi, Saudi Minister of Economy and Planning, the premier ICT event welcomed over 45,000 visitors and 400 exhibitors covering around 15,000 sq m at the Riyadh International Convention and Exhibition Centre.

Commenting on the expo, Ahmed Reda, media and communications manager, IT Industry Development Agency – Egypt, said: “Gitex Saudi Arabia is one of the main ICT events in the region as it showcases the large potential of the local market."

"Egyptian companies, he said, have been achieving great results from exhibiting at this premier show, as evidenced by the growth of participating Egyptian companies from 20 in the 2010 edition to 45 this year.

"Further, Egypt exports ICT services worth $1.1 billion annually mainly to European countries, underlining the strength of the country’s ICT sector," Reda added.

Eric Chen, general manager, Luckwell Company, and the Mission Leader of the Taiwanese pavilion, said: "Gitex Saudi Arabia is the most important trade exhibition dedicated to the ICT in the Kingdom, due to its continuous investment in ICT development and deployment."

According to him, Gitex Saudi is a good platform for Taiwan's innovative ICT products to debut.

"We were keen to explore business opportunities in the fields of solar energy systems, given the Kingdom's abundant sunlight, WiMAX systems, wireless networking systems, and other facilities," he added.

The event also saw strong participation and support from major government agencies led by the National Information Centre – Ministry of Interior, Riyadh Municipality, Public Pension Fund, the Saudi Ministry of Communications and Information Technology and others. Exhibitors came across from 16 countries including national pavilions for Egypt, Taiwan, Pakistan, China, UAE and Jordan.

Gitex Saudi was held concurrently with Saudi Communications 2011, the 13th International Telecommunications Exhibition and Computer Shopper 2011, the 10th Computer Shopper Exhibition.

The expo showcased ICT products, services and systems, telecommunications equipment; networking and IT solutions and software; office automation; the latest personal computers and laptops, mobile phones, multimedia devices and digital products, said the organisers.

The back-to-back trade shows also featured technology-enabled educational and entertainment devices, they added.-TradeArabia News Service