Dubai-based Epoc Messe Frankfurt, a leading trade fair and conference organiser, is exploring opportunities for a foray into Saudi Arabia, the GCC’s largest market.

“The Saudi Arabian market is among the most significant of the wider Middle East region,” said Ahmed Pauwels, chief executive officer of Epoc Messe Frankfurt.

“With our considerable experience of organising trade events in this part of the world, we realise the tremendous potential and scope for growth that a security-related event would have.”

“Drawing on the feedback received from our many Saudi partners and trade visitors and the in-depth research conducted by our marketing teams, the time seems right to expand our reach into the GCC’s largest economy,” Pauwels added.

“The Middle East region and Saudi in particular, is set to figure prominently in the marketing plans of leading players in the safety, security and policing field in the near future,” Pauwels continued. “Security needs are huge, with vast new government and corporate infrastructure on the cards. There is also the ongoing need to provide a safe and secure environment for the vital oil, gas and petrochemical industrial complex.”

“Increasing concerns over safety and security issues is driving up spending on security technology worldwide. Countries of the Arabian peninsula are expected to spend around Dh7.71 billion on security-related systems and equipment in 2013, making this a key market for global safety and security systems manufacturers and service providers,” Pauwels concluded.

Messe Frankfurt is looking at entering the Saudi market with the launch of a security-related trade show to complement the well established Intersec brand, it said in a statement.

The cumulated Saudi market for homeland security, forecasted to become the largest in the world after the US, is expected to be worth around $97 billion between 2010 and 2018, according to research.

The Gulf giant is set to be the focus of global manufacturers and suppliers of safety and security systems. With the new trade event, Messe Frankfurt aims to provide a platform to facilitate trade and the exchange of ideas for manufacturers, suppliers and service providers representing this huge marketplace, the statement said. – TradeArabia News Service