Middle East Officials Head to Singapore for Singapore International Water Week; Ministers from Saudi Arabia, the UAE, Qatar, Oman, Kuwait and Bahrain to Attend Special SIWW Networking Event
Government ministers from several Middle Eastern states will attend a special networking session in Singapore designed to connect them with the providers of water management solutions and technologies.
The Middle East Business Forum is part of the Singapore International Water Week, a global platform for water solutions (23 to 27 June 2008).
It is one of the Water Week's seven business forums - exclusive networking sessions that will introduce participants to senior government officials and potential business partners in the Middle East as well as China, India, South-east Asia, Japan, Australia and Europe.
The forums are an example of the high-level exchanges and business networking that will take place during the Singapore International Water Week, an annual conference and trade show attended by representatives from governments, utilities, businesses and academia.
While in Singapore, representatives of the United Arab Emirates, Qatar and Bahrain are also expected to make further progress on negotiating memoranda of understanding with Singapore's Ministry of the Environment and Water Resources, to facilitate cooperation in the water and environmental sectors.
At the Middle East Business Forum on 25 June, participants will gain a better understanding of the water and wastewater situation in the region. Delivering the keynote speech will be His Excellency Fehied Alshareef, Governor of the Saline Water Conversion Corporation of Saudi Arabia.
He will be followed by distinguished speakers from Bahrain, Abu Dhabi, Qatar, Oman and Kuwait who will highlight water-related projects and business opportunities in these states, including His Excellency Abdullah Bin Salem Bin Amer Al-Rawas, Oman's Minister of Regional Municipalities and Water Resources.
"The forum will put water solution providers in the same room as the people making key decisions on major water projects in the Middle East," said Mr Michael Toh, General Manager of Singapore International Water Week. "In the one three-hour session, water companies will be able to meet and network with key officials from the different countries of the Middle East."
The Middle East Water Market: An Overview
With their burgeoning populations enjoying only a fifth of what the rest of the world does in terms of per capita available renewable water, the arid countries of the Middle East and North Africa (MENA) are expected to spend heavily on the water sector, with about US$117 billion in investments expected over the next decade or so. The region is already a world leader in desalination, with plans to invest a further US$30 billion in desalination projects by 2015. Saudi Arabia, the biggest market, will invest US$28 billion in its water and wastewater sector over the next 10 years, of which some US$6 billion will go towards building new desalination plants.*
For international water companies, the region's water predicament presents both a challenge and an opportunity. Several Singapore-based firms have made significant inroads in this regard. For example, Hyflux earlier this year secured a US$468 million contract to build the world's largest desalination plan in Oran, Algeria, while in 2007, Keppel Seghers won a S$1.5 billion contract to build and operate a wastewater treatment and reuse plant in Qatar.
"Singapore companies and the country's national water agency, PUB, have built up a wealth of experience in the Middle East, which can be put to good use in helping other firms making their first forays into that market," said Mr Toh. "This is what the Singapore International Water Week is all about - facilitating water solutions across borders."
