Tasdeer of QDB to Showcase Qatar's Capabilities at Gulfood 2013

Doha, February 23 (QNA) - Tasdeer, the export development agency of Qatar Development Bank, is poised to showcase Qatar's food and beverage capabilities at the annual food exhibition of Gulfood, which launches Monday at Dubai's World Trade Centre, on February 25-28, 2013. Eight leading food products' exporters from Doha will join Tasdeer in the aim to ink key deals or pursue significant business opportunities with over 4,200 participating exhibitors from across the globe, a QDB press release said. These exporters namely are: Qatar Flour Mills, National Food Company, Dandy Company Limited, Colosseum Doha, Qatar Tunisian Food Company, NAFCO, Qatar Food Factory and Chocolate Graphics. Tasdeer has undertaken several initiatives to facilitate the successful participation of the Qatari companies at Gulfood. The QDB affiliate organized a Qatar Pavilion and booked prime advertising space at the exhibition hall to ensure significant footfall. Tasdeer has also provided the Qatari exporters with a list of potential importers for their products in the region. It will also be distributing booklets containing profiles of all the Qatari food product exporting companies. The export development agency plans to provide all the support that is required by the Qatari companies in order to strongly establish the 'Made in Qatar' brand at the exhibition, which runs over four days and concludes on Feb.28. "As an organization that is mandated with developing the private sector in Qatar, we, at QDB, continuously look for platforms and avenues to bring industry players closer to their target markets and audiences. To that effect, we have established Tasdeer to be a credible and reliable reference and source for potential opportunities, market intelligence and beneficial guidance and counsel to the Qatari non-oil exporters," QDB CEO Mansour bin Ibrahim Al Mahmoud said. Elaborating he said, "In line with this mandate, Tasdeer pinpoints local, regional and international platforms for these exporters to take part in, such as Gulfood, which we believe to be one of the largest and most influential happenings in the GCC." For his part, Tasdeer Executive Director Hassan Khalifa Al Mansouri hailed Gulfoof as one of the world's largest annual trade exhibitions for the food and beverage industry. "It provides our exporters with superb networking and business opportunities which is exactly what we, at Tasdeer, aim for stemming from our firm belief in the ambitious potential that we have in Qatar. We do hope that every Qatari exporter present at Gulfood to capitalize on this outstanding opportunity." Spanning over 100,000 square meters of space, Gulfood boasts participants representing as many as 88 different countries, with more than 110 foreign country pavilions set up at the event. Informative conferences are organized during this four-day show, where attendees are provided with ample opportunities to learn about the latest business trends and new products. The exhibition is attended by over 60,000 qualified business visitors in all. Many professional chefs also take up the opportunity to highlight their skills to a large audience. Different varieties of food items, beverages, restaurant supplies, hospitality services and other related food equipment is exhibited by more than 4,000 firms. Founded in 1997, QDB has been mandated to accelerate the economic diversity of Qatar through building a knowledge-based economy, with a focus on the private sector. It aims to encourage entrepreneurship and to help the private sector take advantage of Qatar's economic growth by providing end-to-end financial and non-financial services including access to capital, guarantees, advisory services and more. QDB Initiatives include Al Dhameen, an indirect lending program run in partnership with local commercial banks, and Tasdeer, which is designed to take Qatari exports to world markets by insuring the commercial and political risk of their buyers. (QNA)