DEVELOP YOUR BUSINESS NETWORK IN SAUDI ARABIA AND
OTHER COUNTRIES OF THE GULF

• To better assess the potential of developing your business in the Gulf countries
• To learn how to find local business partners
• To get advice that will help you stand out in these markets
• To explore the markets of six countries that are arousing interest and drawing investors from around the world, and that are in a strategic position at the hub of three continents
• To find out about business opportunities and upcoming major projects in these countries
• To network with other entrepreneurs like you who are interested in the Gulf countries’ markets
• To create ties with our expert guests, some of whom are established in these markets

Saudi Arabia and its five neighbours in the Persian Gulf (Kuwait, Bahrain, Qatar, the United Arab Emirates, and Oman) offer excellent business opportunities for Québec-based businesses. However, our entrepreneurs have not yet been able to incorporate these markets on a wide scale, due to a business environment that may seem complex and to the difficulty of gaining access to networks of business people in the region. And yet, these people are very open to establishing trade relations with our businesses. One must simply know how to stand out among them.

To that end, we are offering a seminar dedicated to business opportunities to be seized in the Gulf markets, and to the ways of gaining access to the various networks of entrepreneurs and decision-makers who can help open doors to these very dynamic and promising markets.

Saudi Arabia and the other Gulf countries make up a uniform regional whole that is experiencing surprising growth. Their national economies are integrated as part of a customs union: The Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC). Seaside real estate projects, grandiose hotels, skyscrapers of daring design, and airlines like Emirates or Qatar Airways are today’s most recognizable jewels in the crown of the new Gulf cities’ vitality. They are part of the wave of consumption and gigantism still making its way through the GCC countries. Despite Dubai’s recent financial misfortunes, this wave has not yet run aground: large construction projects continue to follow one another, and the region is still attracting promoters.

The Gulf Cooperation Council countries also represent:

• A combined population of 40 million inhabitants
• A combined GDP of $1.1 trillion USD
• Growth estimated at 3.2 % in 2010 and forecast at 4.1% in 2011
• Among the highest GDP per inhabitant in the world
• A customs union, in which products that have been cleared through customs upon entering one of the six countries benefit from travelling free of tariffs in all of the countries in the zone
• Massive public participation in the financing of projects
• Two Foreign Investment Promotion and Protection Agreements (FIPAs) with Canada: one with Kuwait (in effect), and the other with Bahrain (in negotiation)
• An increasing demand for medical equipment, with public and private players mobilized to modernize health care systems
• The creation of new eco-sustainable cities, specializing in scientific research and education
• Cutting edge public transit projects

All businesses seeking promising markets in the Middle East and looking for business partners in the region.