ABCC Participates in Global Trade Conference 2021 Mr Abdeslam El-Idrissi, deputy CEO and secretary general of the Arab British Chamber of Commerce, was one of the guest speakers at the Greater Birmingham Chambers of Commerce’s annual Global Trade Conference, held virtually on 24 June 2021. He advised businesses on the more than 30 ‘mega’ projects that are currently taking place in the Gulf, worth in excess of $1trillion, and commented that investors from Arab states are increasingly looking to spend their investment cash outside of London, presenting a huge opportunity for Greater Birmingham firms. Mr El-Idrissi provided his top tips for firms looking to immediately take advantage of the business opportunities that lie in the Gulf. He said: “The market does give you a lot of opportunities, but what you’ve got to do is know your product first before you go to market. “There are 22 country states, choose your country carefully and know whether your product actually fits into that market. “Always be patient, things don’t happen overnight, you will need to keep going at it in order to secure your deals. “Visit the market, it is very important. One thing that we’ll have, when we can have them, is face to face meetings – they are terribly important in order to actually connect with the parties.” During his presentation, Mr El-Idrissi provided the conference’s virtual attendees with practical insights on trading with the Arab states.
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Mr El-Idrissi explained that 60 per cent of the Arab region is under 25 – mirroring Birmingham’s own youthful population.
Another keynote speaker was the British Ambassador to Qatar, H E Mr Jon Wilks who spoke about the review of trade and investment that was being conducted
