WORLD EXPORT FORUM BRINGS $80M BUSINESS
Doha, 9 Muharram 1437/22 October 2015 (MINA) – The World Export Development Forum (WEDF) 2015 has generated business deals worth $80m of which around half of the intents were signed by Qatari companies.
The two-day forum, concluded yesterday at Sheraton Doha, saw participation of 700 delegates from 92 countries.
“Over 700 of us have talked business. And we have done business. The incredibly productive B2B (business-to-business) sessions have yielded around 90 declarations of intent to do business worth a total of $80m,” said Arancha Gonzalez, Executive Director, International Trade Centre at a press conference.
“The prospective deals cut across sectors, from bottled water and juice production to distribution services. Five trade promotion organisations from Georgia, Bangladesh, Nigeria, Vietnam and Egypt signed agreements of cooperation in export development,” she added.
The forum was organised by Qatar Development Bank (QDB) in cooperation with the International Trade Centre, a subsidiary of the World Trade Organisation (WTO) and the United Nations Conference on Trade and Development. The next WEDF will be held in Sri Lanka, announced Gonzalez, The Peninsula quoted by Mi’raj Islamic News Agency (MINA) as reporting.
“The theme of this WEDF was ‘Innovate, Invest and Internationalise’. Companies, especially small and medium-sized enterprises (SME), need to be able to do all three if they are to be the backbone of sustainable, productive, and competitive economies,” she said.
“This is one reason the B2B deals struck here are so important operating across borders helps companies learn new ways to innovate and become more productive,” she added.
ITC will focus on e-commerce in coming months as it offers immense opportunity for SMEs.
“E-commerce is an area that ITC will focus on in the next months. Moving to the next stage on halal products will also be a priority,” she said.
Gonzalez said countries need to move from recognising the importance of tourism to ensuring that more efforts are catalysed at national and international levels to make tourism a source of inclusive growth.
“Foreign investment can be an important vehicle for new ideas and modern technology. It can drive economic diversification, as we heard here in the case of Qatar, which makes growth resilient to sector-specific volatility,” she said.
“Investment is not just about physical infrastructure, or direct investment in factories. Investment is also about any country’s biggest asset its people.
Investing in human capital and building skilled work forces, is the key to success in the 21st century.
This is why we will continue to focus on building skills for trade through our SME Trade Academy,” she added.
Hassan Khalifa Al Mansoori, Executive Director, ‘Tasdeer’ at QDB, said SMEs play an important role in Qatar’s diversification efforts.
Earlier in the session, speakers said technology is levelling the playing field for SMEs to break into world markets through e-commerce. Twenty years ago it took years to internationalise, now it happens in minutes.
A publication and tool to help SMEs take advantage of the fast-growing market for halal foods was launched yesterday. (T/Imt/R03)
Mi’raj Islamic News Agency (MINA)