Rak Ceramics and Rakia showcase achievements as joint diamond sponsors of Arab International Industrial Forum

The four-day forum was held under the patronage of H.H. Sheikh Hamad Bin Khalifa Al Thani, Emir of the State of Qatar, and had RAK Ceramics and Rakia as joint diamond sponsors. The AIIF featured an Arab and International Industrial Conference on the first two days and an exhibition of Arab exports and international imports during the entire period.

"The forum was held at a crucial juncture, when the economies of the Arab world in particular are witnessing steady recovery from the impact of the global financial crisis. Investment activity in the Arab countries is gaining momentum as expected and especially industrial investment is seeing increased interest. Ras Al Khaimah for instance has been consistently attracting high-value investments from local and international investors to the emirate's free zones and non free zones,"

said Dr. Khater Massaad, CEO of Rak Ceramics and Rakia.

Growth in the Middle East and North Africa region is expected to be 4.4% in 2010, driven by increased domestic business activity as well as a positive contribution from external demand. Given this backdrop, the Arab International Industrial Forum presented the right platform for participating government officials, industry experts, Arab businessmen and investors to address and discuss several key issues that are crucial to industry and industrial development in the region.

The significant growth achieved by Rakia in the first four months of 2010 in terms of licences issued was underlined during the event. Rakia issued a total of 370 licences to different businesses between the period January to April 30, 2010, representing a 78% growth over the corresponding period in 2009 and taking the total number of registered companies to 2,941. Moreover, the number of trading licenses have increased by 150% from Q1 2009, and this increase has been attributed to the introduction of new warehousing units in Rakia free zone and non free zone; low cost for rental space and increasing logistics companies using Ras Al Khaimah as their base.

Overall, the number of licences issued by Rakia has increased by 10 times in the last five years, which underlines Rakia's strong performance in recent years. The significance of the industrial parks in Ras Al Khaimah, including the free zones and industrial zones in the Al Hamra and Al Ghail areas of the emirate were also highlighted during the Doha forum.

The exhibition segment of the event also provided an opportunity for RAK Ceramics, the world's largest ceramics manufacturer, to showcase its latest product line including the range of SLIM tiles of up to 4.5 millimetres in thickness, the new Stone Art Collections featuring KERAJET technology and ORION Collections featuring CHROMA technology.

The Arab International Industrial Forum was organized by the Arab Industrial Development and Mining Organization, Ministry of Energy and Industry in Qatar and Al-Iktissad Wal-Aamal Group in collaboration with Qatar Chamber of Commerce and Industry.