Tech firms optimistic of Gulf spending on IT

Inal Ersan

DUBAI: Executives took 15 minutes just to get past security on Sunday at the

Middle East's largest information technology fair, an annual event where

accredited participants can normally come and go without hindrance.

It did not dampen the excitement of companies contemplating a market where

oil-funded economies are expected to keep spending on their rapidly developing

information sectors. Participants at Dubai's Gitex 2001, a gathering of 600

exhibitors from 35 countries including the sector's biggest names, were

confident their Middle East operations would survive the crisis over the

September 11 attacks with minimal damage.

"From our point of view the business has not changed at all,"

Barham Mohazzebi, the general manager of software giant Microsoft's Gulf and

Eastern Mediterranean operations told Reuters. "I am sure that there will

be some sectors that will be a bit affected by the slowdown but the IT business

has always been able to weather difficult times," said Ayman Abouseif,

Middle East and Africa marketing director for Oracle.

Many Western executives showed up at Gitex despite heightened security

concern in the oil-rich region after a Canadian was shot dead in Kuwait in what

officials have said appeared to be a backlash at US-led strikes on Afghanistan.

Microsoft has opened an office in neighboring Oman and inaugurated its regional

office in Dubai in the period that followed the suicide attacks that killed

thousands of people in New York and Washington. Officials have said the

company's move was a sign of confidence in the region's security.

"There is no reason for concern over a negative impact" on the

United Arab Emirates economy following the September 11 attacks, UAE finance

minister and Dubai's deputy ruler Sheikh Hamdan bin Rashid al Maktoum said at

the opening ceremony. Executives said the region remained an excellent market

for hardware and software products and services because of buoyant demand from

companies, governments and private consumers.

They said demand for computers and related technology in the Middle East

outpaced the world average as access to the Internet spread and electronic

commerce began to take shape. "This is not tourism. It is not about

products that you can live with or live without. In today's world you need

technology to succeed," said an executive who asked not to be identified.

Organizers said that despite security jitters they had not seen any

significant decline in attendance. "We didn't even think it (canceling). We

are here and we are here to stay," said Balasubramanian V., a Sony Gulf

senior executive.

But a source close to the organizers and an executive of a major IT firm said

that if the crisis over terrorism continued, next year's Gitex could be

affected. "People have committed funds to this Gitex about 10 months ago

and things were rolling when the attack took place, but next year's Gitex will

be planned in two months," the source said.

(C) Reuters Limited 2001.