ENVIRONMENT 2005 receives over 11,000 visitors

The event also saw the signing of the landmark Abu Dhabi Declaration to promote 'Sustainable Transportation in Developing Countries' by ministers from over 20 countries in the region.

His Highness Sheikh Mansour Bin Zayed Al Nahyan, Minister of Presidential Affairs, inaugurated ENVIRONMENT 2005 on 30th January 2005. Delivering the opening address at the inauguration ceremony, Sheikh Abdul Rehman Al Midfa, UAE - Minister of Health, said that the UAE has become a role model for all countries in the region in the field of environmental protection and this progress has been made thanks to the efforts of Sheikh Zayed Bin Sultan Al Nahyan, Late President of the UAE through his endeavours to enhance the environmental conditions for wildlife while enabling the UAE to emerge as one of the leading countries as regards environmental protection. Al Midfa also emphasised the parallel support provided by His Highness Sheikh Khalifa Bin Zayed Al Nahyan, President of the UAE who has undertaken to further build on the massive infrastructure projects initiated by Sheikh Zayed decades ago.

338 exhibitors, from 41 countries took part in the ENVIRONMENT 2005 exhibition. The event also had official pavilions from France, Germany, the Netherlands, the United Kingdom, the US, India and Iran and covered a net area of over 5,000 square metres.

German Gilli, Director of R&D at Linabond Inc. says, 'This is the best trade show I have ever been to. As a result of our participation at the show, we have obtained 50 hard-core business leads and are in a position to convert these into significant business in the next few weeks'.

Expressing satisfaction at her company's participation at ENVIRONMENT 2005, Ms. Anja Busse, Managing Director of Busse Innovative Systems GmbH from Germany said, 'This is the second time our company has participated at this major exhibition. We see more interest among the visitors about wastewater recycling which is our specialty. Our participation here has resulted in interesting discussions with potential partners as well prospective business deals with customers.'

Francis Charles, Project Manager, Onyx International said that 'The exhibition gave us an important opportunity to build our brand and showcase our business agreement with Abu Dhabi Municipality to provide waste collection and street cleaning services. We also had the opportunity to gain information on the many projects initiated by the UAE in the environmental field'.

'Many of our exhibitors at ENVIRONMENT 2005, have signed up to exhibit at the next edition to be held in two years time as well. We expect over 400 exhibitors in 2007 which represents an increase of over 25% over this time's event' said a spokesperson for General Exhibitions Corporation, the organizers of ENVIRONMENT 2005.

ENVIRONMENT 2005 also saw the presence of several Sheikhs, ministers, high-ranking dignitaries and officials from all over the world who visited the exhibition. Over 1,000 delegates participated in the parallel conference on 'Sustainable Transportation in Developing Countries' that was held and had the opportunity to listen to more than 80 expert speakers.

The US Ambassador to the UAE, H.E. Michele Sison who was among the high-ranking guests at ENVIRONMENT 2005 remarked 'Specialised exhibitions such as ENVIRONMENT 2005 are a vital tool in enhancing co-operation and technology transfer between the US and other countries in the region. We are pleased with the level of organisation and the opportunity that environment 2005 provides for US companies as it is a great platform to display the latest technologies in the environmental field', added Ambassador Sison.

Declaring that Abu Dhabi was a role model for all new cities, H. E. Margaret Wolf, German Vice Minister and Parliamentary State Secretary said at the event that she would encourage organisations and specialised interest groups from Germany to visit the UAE so they can see and learn from the progress that Abu Dhabi has made.

ENVIRONMENT 2005 provided the ideal platform to exchange experiences and information as well as to exhibit related best practices of the public/private sectors. In addition it gave exhibitors the opportunity of meeting influential officials from governments, municipalities, transport and health authorities, water and electricity agencies, Public Works departments, environmental institutions, academic associations and companies from developed and developing countries.

ADNOC and its Group of Companies was the main sponsor for ENVIRONMENT 2005. The co-sponsors for the event were Abu Dhabi Water & Electricity Authority, Union Water & Electricity Company, the UAE Offsets Group, BP, Shell, Total and the National Bank of Abu Dhabi. Other special-event sponsors include ADNOC Distribution, Abu Dhabi Commercial Bank, Marafiq and JODCO-Impex. Water & Wastewater International was the official publication for the event and Etihad Airways was the official Airline of ENVIRONMENT 2005.

The event also received active support from the Federal Environment Agency, all the Municipalities in the UAE, Water & Electricity Authorities, the Ministry of Civil Defence, the UAE University and the United Nations Environment Programme, besides many other local and international institutions.