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Expo 2020 Dubai is urging Qatari firms of all sizes to take advantage of the wide-ranging business opportunities available to them through the planning, delivery and legacy stages of the first World Expo to be held in the Arab World and Middle East, Africa and South Asia (MEASA) region.
An Expo 2020 Dubai team travelled to Qatar on 1 May as part of its ‘GCC Roadshow’, designed to encourage business engagement and growth across the region and highlight the lasting benefits of working with Expo. They connected with key business figures at a session hosted by the Qatar Ministry of Economy and Commerce in Doha.
This was followed by a meeting with heads of the Qatar Chamber, Qatar Development Bank, Centre for Entrepreneurship at Qatar University, Bedaya, and the Entrepreneurs’ Association, where the Expo 2020 Dubai team outlined the opportunities available to Qatar’s wider business community – including its larger corporates and small and medium sized enterprises (SMEs) – and provided an overview of Expo’s transparent and inclusive procurement process.
With more than 4,200 Qatari companies already operating in Dubai, Expo 2020 will open the door for many more, working directly with Expo to create partnerships and discover new opportunities that will enable a range of firms to establish a lasting presence in the UAE.
Nasser Mohamed Al-Muhannadi, Chairman of Qatar Pavilion Committee Expo Dubai 2020 said: “We see Expo 2020 Dubai as a wonderful opportunity for our businesses to showcase to the world Qatari ingenuity, innovations and our expertise in a wide variety of areas. It is also a golden chance for us to give the millions of overseas visitors to the region for Expo a taste of what our country has to offer.
“We look forward to working with our GCC brothers to ensure that Expo 2020 Dubai is remembered as an exceptional World Expo and a proud moment for our region. I urge Qatari businesses to take advantage of the many chances it offers them for growth and development on a global platform, and to make a long-term stake in the UAE.”
Manal AlBayat, Senior Vice President of Business Development and Integration at Expo 2020 Dubai, said: “Expo 2020 Dubai will provide Qatari businesses, both large and small, with the chance to showcase their capabilities on a global platform. Our GCC Roadshow is all about exploring ways in which countries across the region, like Qatar, can maximise the opportunities available to them.
“By participating in Expo 2020 Dubai and entering into our supply chain, businesses can benefit from job creation and economic growth. Beyond this, they can leverage Expo 2020’s vast public and private sector network to enjoy greater business connectivity and build new partnerships.”
Qatar and the UAE reinforced their existing ties by committing to ‘new horizons’ of cooperation in May 2016. Expo 2020 Dubai presents a valuable platform to further develop these ties across a number of areas including tourism, cultural exchange and business, in line with Expo’s theme of Connecting Minds, Creating the Future.
In 2017 alone, Expo 2020 Dubai expects to award over 140 business contracts, worth over AED 11 billion (USD 2.99 billion). Many of these will be for goods and services of particular relevance to Qatar’s business community including construction materials and investment in infrastructure, as well as emerging industries such as tourism.
Expo 2020 Dubai is committed to integrating SMEs and encouraging them to bid for contracts, thereby tapping into their innovation and flexibility, with 20 per cent of Expo’s budget – equating to more than AED 5 billion (USD 1.36 billion) – to be spent with SMEs.
This will be of particular interest to Qatari SMEs, which already receive strong support from the Qatari government as part of the Qatar National Vision 2030. This states the importance of incubating and growing small and medium scale enterprises to strengthen the country’s business sector, and contribute to sustainable development which provides a high standard of living for all its people for generations to come.
Qatar aims to further diversify its economy through the Qatar National Tourism Sector Strategy 2030, by attracting seven million visitors annually by the year 2030, creating 98,000 new jobs and contributing more than five per cent to its GDP. Expo 2020 Dubai represents a valuable opportunity for Qatar to promote itself as a tourist destination to a global audience of millions, and leverage tourists travelling to the region for Expo.
Expo runs from 20 October, 2020 to 10 April, 2021 and will attract millions of visitors from around the world. A large proportion of visitors are expected to come from the GCC, which is the UAE’s largest source market for tourism – with 3.4 million visitors to Dubai alone from the Gulf in 2016.
Through its GCC Roadshow, which successfully launched in Oman in March and recently travelled to Bahrain in April, Expo 2020 Dubai is aiming to visit Kuwait and Saudi Arabia in the coming months.
To find out more about upcoming opportunities for participation in the tender process, firms and individuals should register on the Expo 2020 Dubai eSourcing Portal at: https://esource.expo2020dubai.ae
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