The inaugural Gitex Cairo 1999, which ended last Monday at the Cairo International Conference Centre, was deemed a resounding success by the regional IT community.
The main exhibition attracted 30,000 IT professionals and businessmen and its retail partner, Cairo Computer Shopper, saw more than 38,000 public visitors streaming into the international debut of Gitex.
Gitex Cairo 1999 has been a runaway success. It attracted tens of thousands of IT professionals and businessmen as well as an impressive number of individual consumers who flocked to the Shopper to strike the best bargains,” said Wahid Attalla, general manager of Dubai World Trade Centre.
Salem El-Shaer, head of the e-commerce project in Dubai, praised the professional organisation of the exhibition as well as the attendance at various seminars.
El-Shaer said the e-commerce project undertaken by Dubai would place it alongside the prominent IT hubs around the world.
“The whole world is now directed towards e-commerce and therefore the Arab world should take a series of steps to ensure its share in this market,” said Sheikh Khaled Ben Zayed Al Nahayan, chief of Ben Zayed Group, while making a presentation on e-commerce.
Several international IT companies launched their hardware and software products, especially those targeted at for Arab users. Apple, which is working with Arabic software developers to initiate new Arabic Mac solutions this year, displayed a new line of the Power Macintosh G3.
Compaq Middle East was one of the largest exhibitors in Gitex. “We are pleased by the good attendance and also by the quality of people attending the event. In general it is a successful show,” said Debbie Barlett of Compaq.
Ali Faramawy, general manager of Microsoft Egypt, called Gitex Cairo a huge success.
