at Expo Centre Sharjah Sharjah, 30 April, 05 (WAM) - The third edition of the IndonesianSolo Exhibition (ISE), which will feature over 360 exhibitors,was launched at the Expo Centre Sharjah today.

The government of Indonesia, through the National Agency forExport Development (NAFED), Ministry of Trade in cooperationwith Indonesian Embassy in Abu Dhabi and Indonesian ConsulateGeneral in Dubai is organising the exhibition at Expo CentreSharjah from September 19 to 23, according to a press release.

A press conference to announce the exhibition was attended by Ahmed Mohammed Al Midfa, Chairman, Sharjah Chamber of Commerceand Industry, Ms. Diah Maulida, Indonesia's Director Generalof Foreign Trade and Acting Chairperson of NAFED, Mr. FaisalBafadal, Indonesia's Ambassador to UAE, M Muchtar, Consul General, Indonesia's Consulate General in Dubai, Mohammed Salem Al Mosharrekh,Board Member, SCCI and Expo Centre Sharjah, and Mr. Fasahat AliKhan, Acting Director General, Expo Centre Sharjah.

'The exhibition is Indonesia's largest and the most comprehensivetrade fair in the Gulf region. I see this event as a unique opportunityto advance trade relations between this region and Indonesia.

The strong participation from Indonesian companies and the wideinterest the exhibition has generated among traders and professionalsin the region will ensure that the exhibition will help strengthenthe ties,' said Mr Midfa.

'The exhibition, with its wide range of consumer and industrialproducts, will offer regional businessmen and investors a chanceto establish contacts with their Indonesian counterparts, sourcenew products and services and in the process become part of Indonesia?ssuccess story in the Middle East markets,' he added.

'Indonesia wishes to send the message to the world that theexports to the Middle East, Africa and Central Asia remain topin our agenda though we are recovering from the tsunami disaster.

We trust that the UAE will remain our loyal business partner,'said Ms. Diah Maulida.

Diah Maulida added that Middle East and Africa continue to bepotential markets for Indonesia. 'The number of consumers inthe region could add up to one billion. Till today, the bulkof the Indonesian export has been traditionally directed to theAsian markets. We are aware of the need to somehow modify thesituation. On the other hand, export to Middle East and Africawhich consists of more than 3,000 items, has a positive annualgrowth and constitutes 6 per cent of the total Indonesian exportto the world.? She added: 'Our decision to settle on Expo CentreSharjah has been a strategic one since we want to bring Indonesianproducts to the doorstep of the Middle East and African traders.

Today, they can look forward to source the best of Indonesianexport items in Sharjah in September each year.' The ISE 2005will offer trade visitors business contacts, investments opportunitiesand a chance to tap cultural as well as tourism promotion .

The exhibition will be held at Halls 1 and 2 covering 8,000square metres. It will feature products and services of approximately360 exhibitors. The event will also highlight well-sourced industrialproducts that were not promoted in the previous exhibitions aswell as products of small and medium enterprises. Of the estimated25,000 visitors, 10,000 will be traders.

Product and services exhibited will comprise industrial products(60 per cent), agricultural items (20 per cent), handicrafts(10 per cent) and the rest include travel and investment serviceswhich cover banking, insurance, hotel and tourism, engineeringand technology, etc.

The following products were well sourced in the previous shows-- medical equipment, furniture, machinery, textile & textileproducts, rubber products, metal products, building materials,wooden products, baby carriages, cosmetics, automotive parts,soap, paper, electrical & electronic products, etc.

The exhibitions in 2003 and 2004 were well accepted by the businesscircle and potential buyers from Middle East, Africa and CentralAsia. The previous exhibition featured 309 exhibitors and generatedbusiness worth more than US$14 million.