Tourism & Hospitality | Thursday 26 February, 2015 3:15 pm |

King Abdullah Economic City (KAEC) recently concluded its participation in the Gulfood manufacturing event which was held in Dubai on February 8th-12th and is considered as the biggest and most effective regional event specializing in the food and beverage industry.
KAEC’s Industrial Valley booth was much admired and received thousands of visitors of decision-makers and senior officials from the governmental and private sectors, as well as experts and senior representatives of food production and manufacturing companies from around the world.
The keen interest in the Industrial Valley stand was due to it being an exemplary model of planning and implementation of complementary factors that have been developed according to world class standards, including the state of the art infrastructure; all of which make the city one of the most promising investment environments in the region.

On this occasion, Mr. Fahd Al-Rasheed, Group CEO and Managing Director of KAEC, stated that the economic city's participation in Gulfood is aimed at promoting the global competitiveness of the Saudi market, pointing out that KAEC is a national project led by the private sector as part of a long-term strategic plan adopted by the government of Saudi Arabia in order to diversify the national economy.

Mr. Ryan Qutub, CEO of the Industrial Valley in KAEC, who led the delegation participating in the exhibition, gave a detailed overview and visual display presenting KAEC, which occupies an area of 181 million square meters, as one of the largest and most important economic projects run by the private sector in the Middle East. Mr. Qutub also presented another side of KAEC as an urban environment that includes a comprehensive array of residential, commercial and industrial developments that offer investors enormous investment opportunities, highlighting the unique transportation facilities that include the Industrial Valley’s direct connection to King Abdullah Port, which is planned to be one of the ten largest ports in the world and provides access to 250 million consumers in the Middle East and East Africa.

Mr. Qutub went on to say: "Saudi Arabia accounts 60% of the food consumption and 75% of food processing in the Gulf region, and therefore we have developed the Industrial Valley as the new value-added logistics and manufacturing hub with all the advantages of an unrivalled strategic location. It is these unique benefits that have so far attracted 93 leading local and global companies to invest in establishing manufacturing and operational facilities in the Industrial Valley, including some of the most important companies in the food industry, notably Mars, Almarai, Danone, Halwani , Al Kabeer, Sharbatly, Binzagr, Abbar and other well-known brands."

At the exhibition, meetings took place with of senior government representatives in the field of food security together with local and global food producers who discussed their views and shared knowledge about the food industry issues and addressed the need for sustainability and international cooperation.

Mr. Qutub concluded: “KAEC provides industrial and logistical support for the national food security project through its strategic location on the west coast of the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia and the availability of a world class infrastructure and integrated logistics solutions.”

KAEC’s Industrial Valley extends over an area of 55 million square meters, which constitutes nearly one-third of the city's total land area, and offers investors the opportunity to acquire land for commercial and manufacturing facilities in a fully developed industrial environment, complete with technologically advanced services including electricity, water, gas, sewage, communications, paved roads and rain drainage networks. In addition KAEC offers a range of residential solutions, including The Village project which is designed especially for workers and supervisors. Planned to develop on a cluster basis, the Industrial Valley at KAEC currently consists of six industrial sectors: pharmaceuticals, food and consumer goods, logistics, plastics, building materials and the automotive industry.