Dubai to Host MEED Real Estate Conference during International Property Week

This key industry event is being held alongside the Dubai Property Investment Show, which together with the conference form key elements of the International Property Week Dubai 2005.

Bahrain Financial Harbour, the Pearl project in Qatar and The Wave in Oman.

Saeed al-Muntafiq, Director General, Dubai Development & Investment Authority (DDIA) will set the scene for the conference in a keynote address which will assess the real estate development environment in Dubai. The DDIA is the executive arm of the Dubai government responsible for developing an integrated strategy for the emirate.

Commenting on the conference, Guy Guillemard, Marketing Director, THE DOMUS GROUP, organisers of Dubai Property Investment Show stated, "Our aim in partnering with a conference specialist like MEED was to give trade visitors an in depth trade show experience, by offering multiple platforms to explore the property market. It also gives international visitors who travel to Dubai specifically for the exhibition a better opportunity to analyse the market fully, meet with key players and thus, make well-informed decisions." THE DOMUS GROUP is hosting Dubai Property Investment Show from 1 to 3 February, 2005, at the Dubai International Exhibition Centre, in partnership with Strategic Marketing.

Speakers will review trends in other key markets. Ayedh al-Qahtani, President of the Aloula Real Estate Development Company, will report on Saudi Arabia, the Middle East's largest real estate market. He will play particular attention to projects being implemented in the holy cities of Makkah and Medina.

Karim Salameh, Chairman of Eagle Management, will deliver a presentation about real estate developments in Lebanon including the Eagle One scheme his firm is implementing. He will be followed by Samih Barbir of Investment Development Authority of Lebanon and Raja A Makarem, managing partner of leading Beirut-based property consultant, Ramco Real Estate Advisers.

The conference will hear an update about the Bahrain Financial Harbour project, the most ambitious integrated commercial and residential development being implemented in Bahrain.

A powerful panel of industry practitioners will debate trends and opportunities in the market. It will include Mohammed al-Tawash, chief executive of Al Khaleej Development Company (Tameer), Akram Abu Hamdan, director general of the National Resources Investment & Development Corporation (Mawared) and Linda Mahoney of Better Homes. Topics to be considered will include the emergence of build-operate-transfer (BOT) property projects in Kuwait and the role of private-public partnerships (PPP).

Shaikh Khalid al-Gahtani, Chairman, National Real Estate Committee of Saudi Arabia, will report on the role of governments in promoting and facilitating real estate developments. Shehab M Gargash, Managing Director of Daman, will review opportunities for investors in regional real estate markets.

An international perspective will be provided by Nicholas Brooke, Chairman of the Professional Property Services Group of Hong Kong. He was previously President of the Royal Institute of Chartered Surveyors.

New ways to finance individual property ownership will be outlined by Adel al-Shirawi, Chief Executive Officer of Tamweel, the Dubai housing finance firm. A further investigation of developments in Dubai will be provided in a status report about Dubai International Financial Centre, the offshore financial centre being created in the centre of the city.

Other speakers will include Ahmad Shareif of Remi Corporation, Mohammed al-Safin of Eqarat.com, Richard Cotton of Cluttons, Elaine Jones of Asteco Property Management and Peter Riddoch of Damac Properties.