Solidere's Management participates at Cityscape Conference 2005

Solidere's management will be participating on the first day of the conference, Saturday, September 17th , and they will be taking part in two sessions.

Solidere's Senior Management Personnel will be present at the event to inaugrate Solidere's pavilion at the exhibit, to brief the audience about the work completed and in progress for years 2004 and 2005, and most importantly to participate at the Cityscape Conference that will involve many eminent figures in the real estate and contracting fields, to address many issues witnessed in the region's markets.

On the first day of the conference, Mr. Mounir Douaidy, General Manager and Chief Financial Officer of Solidere, will be participating in the opening session titled "Benchmarking Real Estate Returns - Exploring The Performance of Real Estate Investment in 2005" session, along with prominent figures in the field. The group of speakers will address major issues such as assessing the real estate market global performance over the last year and how was the performance in the GCC, identifying the current returns and how they changed over the last year, pinpointing the real estate investment returns across the world, projecting the real estate performance in the future and the expectations of investors for GCC returns, choosing and evaluating which property types and sectors will work best for investors, and what should the investors expect when investing in international real estate markets.

In addition, Mr. Douaidy will give a presentation to demonstrate Solidere's achievements for this year, and will shed some light on Solidere's plans for the coming three years for the conference's attendees.

Mr. Douaidy is a Certified Accountant from the UK in 1980, with 6 years of International Audit Experience in the UK, 15 years of varied European and International financial experience in the real estate and construction sectors in the Middle East and Gulf region, and in Corporate Management and Administration, and 10 years of financial and real estate experience at Solidere.

Along with Mr. Douaidy, Mr. Mounib Hammoud, Land Sales Division Manager of Solidere "The Lebanese Company for the Development and Reconstruction of Beirut Central District", will also be taking part on the first day of the conference in the panel discussion on "Repositioning Cities in the Global Marketplace - Attracting New Sources of Investment Through Property Development." Issues to be addressed at the panel will encompass building economic clusters to attract foreign investments and reshape the cityscape, planning strategies driving the emerging urban identity and economic success of a city, how to reconcile sustainable development goals with economic growth strategies, opportunities and impact on urban development before, during and after the hosting of major events, and focus on the challenges, opportunities and scenarios for the future of our cities.

Mr. Hammoud is a graduate of the American University of Beirut (AUB) with a BA of Business Administration, and later acquired his MBA also from AUB. Mr. Hammoud is an experienced businessman with 20 years of experience in banking, institutional finance along with extensive practice of trade and real estate finance, inclusive of 10 years of strategic planning and real estate experience at Solidere.

Solidere is looking forward for this event as it marks its second participation at Cityscape exhibition and conference, and will provide the opportunity to elaborate on the progress it has made in Beirut City Centre Project and its future plans toward this project.