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Growth Pockets to Sustain Printing Industry

ABU DHABI — Pockets of growth in the regional economies will ensure positive growth for the printing and document management industry, even in the backdrop of the global slowdown, according to the officials of Heliozid Oce Middle East.

Heliozid Oce Middle East is a 30-year old joint venture between The Netherlands-based Oce and the UAE-based Middle East partner Heliozid, and is considered to be one of the leading printing and document management solution providers globally.

“Recession has not affected Middle East as badly as other global markets, primarily because is still on an emerging mode with the demand for printing and document management solutions on the rise as both private and public sectors continue to expand their business,” Johannes Verschaeren, Head of the document printing business at Oce Technology said.

The fall-out of the economic slowdown on the regional economies, particularly in the GCC has been sporadic. Many of the sectors, especially those on the knowledge economy front, continue to present tremendous growth potential. Our assessment is that after a conservative phase, some of the countries have started spending on infrastructure projects led by the government, this year, and this will help sustain growth this year, Johannes said at a programme organised to coincide with the 30^th anniversary of the 
joint venture. Quoting experts he said the printing and document management solutions industry as a whole is estimated to suffer 23 per cent set back in 2009. However the market is expected achieve a combined annual growth rate of 7.9 per cent over the five years spanning 2009-2013.

“Despite current global realities, we expect to fulfill our year-end targets because of growth in some of the key markets we are present. The largest market, Saudi Arabia, is on a boom with the government spending on infrastructure increasing despite recession. In Lebanon, we have grown by 50 per cent in the last two quarters, while Qatar, Bahrain and Kuwait are offering avenues of increased business,” said. Phillippe G Husni, General Manager of Heliozid Oce Middle East.

· ramavarman@khaleejtimes.ae