Messe Düsseldorf expands business in North Africa

Messe Düsseldorf is registering strong growth in Egypt and further expanding its market position. From 2 to 4 September 2023 the company will bring the trade fairs GIFA MEA, METEC MEA, wire MEA and Tube MEA to Cairo for the first time.  Messe Düsseldorf has already been active in Egypt with pacprocess MEA since 2019 and with FoodAfrica Cairo since 2022; further trade fair projects are in planning. With this move Messe Düsseldorf not only provides its customers with access to the attractive domestic Egyptian market. Egypt is also the gate to Africa and the Near East. The expansion forms part of the international new business offensive to strengthen the competitive position of Düsseldorf / North Rhine-Westphalia as trade fair locations and to make the company futureproof.

Düsseldorf, 4 April 2023. Messe Düsseldorf continues expanding in North Africa.  2 to 4 September will see the four trade fairs GIFA Middle East Africa, METEC Middle East Africa, wire Middle East Africa and Tube Middle East Africa (MEA) being held as part of the METAL & STEEL EGYPT in Cairo for the first time. With this move Messe Düsseldorf creates relevant local platforms for the industries related to casting (GIFA), metallurgy (METEC), wire and cable (wire) as well as tubes and pipes (Tube). “Our benchmark for going international is: attractive markets for our customers with high demand for investment in industry and infrastructure plus a favourable geographic location. Egypt has both,” explains Wolfram N. Diener, President & CEO of Messe Düsseldorf, and goes on to say: “Egypt with its large and growing population, the upcoming major projects in many sectors of economy and its role as a gateway to Africa and the Near East, is a location of the future. We plan to continuously expand our range here and establish tailor-made platforms for the Egyptian market.”  

Strong partnership between Egypt and Messe Düsseldorf
Messe Düsseldorf cooperates closely with the Egyptian government on this. The Ministry of Trade and Industry promotes the attendance of African economic delegations at Messe Düsseldorf’s events in Egypt. In addition to this, the Messe Düsseldorf supports the Egypt Expo and Convention Authority – EECA in a consulting capacity for the (further) development of exhibition centres. February 2023 saw a conversation between Ahmed Samir Saleh, Minister of Trade and Industry, and Bernd Jablonowski, Executive Director Trade Fairs at Messe Düsseldorf, about intensifying cooperation as well as about further possible platforms for other industries. “Egypt clearly recognises the great value of our trade fairs. They promote Egypt’s economic development and global networking by bringing together international and local companies with a view to initiating joint projects.”

The Egyptian market provides opportunities in many industries
With its around 104 million inhabitants Egypt has posted 4% – 5% annual economic growth over the past few years. In 2022 this figure was even as high as 6.6%. While the impact of the Covid pandemic and the war in Ukraine coupled with the country’s high inflation rate have somewhat slowed positive development at present, after GNP growth of some 2% this year, this figure is set to rise to 4.1% in 2024. Furthermore, the Egyptian government has undertaken new measures to create more jobs. It is also investing in major infrastructure projects like the 1,100 km high-speed electric train link from Cairo to Abu Simbel and Aswan. An important impulse came care of COP27, the World Climate Conference held at Egypt’s Sharm El Sheikh, in November 2022. Enterprises there announced projects boasting triple-digit billion investment (US$) in green hydrogen and fuel as well as wind power.

Thomas Kufahl, Country CEO of thyssenkrupp Uhde in Egypt, can confirm the appeal of the market and the relevance of local trade fairs from a corporate viewpoint. “In many respects, COP27 in Egypt and the forthcoming COP28 in the United Arab Emirates as part of the MENA region, are paving the way for achieving the sustainable development goals. Trade fairs enable enterprises to network locally and jointly present the innovative and high-tech solutions needed to address global industrial challenges such as solutions for a climate-friendly industrial sector, for example.”

Messe Düsseldorf is long established on the Egyptian market
Bernd Jablonowski emphasises the successful development of Messe Düsseldorf in Egypt: “Our Egyptian events are growing and we are offering more and more industries new platforms. The new GIFA, METEC, wire and Tube spin-offs are the next important step. The Egyptian market still holds plenty of potential for the industries served by Düsseldorf’s other global No. 1 trade fairs.” Messe Düsseldorf has already been operating in Egypt since 2019. Successful market entry was achieved thanks to pacprocess Middle East Africa (MEA), which forms part of theinterpack alliance, the family of international trade fairs revolving around the packaging industry and related process industries. In 2022 FoodAfrica Cairo was held in parallel with pacprocess MEA with a majority participation by Messe Düsseldorf for the first time. “With this move we have expanded our portfolio in Egypt along the value chain – from the packaging to the food industry,” says Bernd Jablonowski.

The 2022 editions of pacprocess MEA and FoodAfrica Cairo, implemented in cooperation with the companies IFP Egypt and Konzept, were very successful: over 25,000 trade visitors from more than 60 countries travelled to the trade fair duo in the Egyptian capital. They met with 738 exhibitors from 32 countries. This corresponds to an over 60% increase in visitors and approximately 70% more exhibitors compared to the previous event. “The impressive development of the event, but also the atmosphere and the conversations on site, have shown once again that Africa and the Near East are attractive destinations for many companies,” says Thomas Dohse, Director of the interpack Portfolio Processing & Packaging, and adds: “With our trade fairs in Egypt we offer a unique platform for accessing the African food market.” The global market will meet for interpack at the Düsseldorf homebase from 4 to 10 May 2023.

Further growth is pre-programmed
In future, Messe Düsseldorf will also take its SAVE FOOD Initiative to pacprocess MEA and FoodAfrica Cairo to Egypt. Together with the United Nations Environment Programme the company makes a statement here against global food losses and waste, and demonstrates how packaging, refrigeration and logistics can support these efforts. GIFA Middle East Africa, METEC Middle East Africa, wire Middle East Africa and Tube Middle East Africa will be held from 2 to 4 September as a special area of METAL & STEEL EGYPT at the Egypt International Exhibition Center. METAL & STEEL EGYPT, which is organised by AGEX (Arabian German Exhibitions & Publishing Ltd), has already presented a broad range of machinery, plants and products from the steel and metal industries for the Near and Middle East since 2010.

“We are very much looking forward to partnering with AGEX and are certain that our metal trade fairs will generate profitable synergies for all parties,” delights Daniel Ryfisch, Director of the trade fairs wire and Tube. Underlining the market opportunities Malte Seifert, Director of the “Bright World of Metals” comprising GIFA, METEC, THERMPROCESS and NEWCAST, says: “The large construction, infrastructure and industrial projects and the planned expansion of renewable energies, in particular, offer highly attractive opportunities for companies from the metal industry.” The new events in Egypt are closely linked with the world’s No. 1 trade fairs in Düsseldorf. From 12 to 16 June 2023 this is where the “The Bright World of Metals” will be held.  

Messe Düsseldorf’s international business development continues
Messe Düsseldorf is not only expanding its international business in North Africa but also becoming increasingly involved in Turkey, Southeast Asia as well as North and South America. 2023 will see a whole series of debut events. These include wire and Tube Eurasia (24 – 27 May 2023 in Istanbul), GIFA and METEC Indonesia (13 – 16 September 2023 in Jakarta) as well as ProWine Tokyo to be held as “Wine & Gourmet Japan – powered by ProWein” this year (12 – 14 April 2023). From 29 – 31 August 2023, Shanghai will host REHACARE SHANGHAI for the first time, whose kick-off had to be postponed due to China’s zero-Covid policy in 2022. XPONENTIAL, the world’s biggest trade fair for uncrewed systems and robotics in the USA, will be held jointly by Messe Düsseldorf North America and the Association for Uncrewed Vehicle Systems International (AUVSI) for the first time now, in Denver from 8 to 11 May 2023.

“We are pushing our foreign activities with an eye on markets with potential while considering geopolitical challenges,” says Wolfram N. Diener and goes on to say: “By diversifying in this way we are spreading the risk for ourselves and our customers, creating relevant local platforms on promising markets and, last but not least, winning over more international players for our leading international trade fairs at our homebase in Düsseldorf.” 

Media Contact:
Dr. Andrea Gränzdörffer
Director Corporate Communications / Press Spokesperson
Phone: 0211/4560-555
Email: graenzdoerffera@messe-duesseldorf.de

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