First-Ever COMDEX Saudi Arabia Receives Personal Message From Bill Gates: "How Technology Can Unlock the Creative Potential of Your Workforce".

Business & High Tech Editors

JEDDAH, Saudi Arabia--(BUSINESS WIRE)--April 9, 2000

HRH Prince Abdulmajeed Declares Saudi Arabia's Support

for "IT in the Service of Individuals and Society"

Microsoft is Accelerating Investments in Saudi Market,

Chairman Gates Tells Visitors

U.S. Ambassador Fowler Says Technology

will bring Mankind Closer Together

Over 1,000 Saudi VIPs Attend Official Opening of

First Saudi Professional IT Show by Governor of Makkah Region,

Prince Abdulmajeed

As hundreds of Saudi business leaders arrived for the VIP inauguration of the first COMDEX Saudi Arabia on Sunday April 9, Microsoft Chairman Bill Gates has sent visitors a personal message of welcome that also announces increased national investment by his company.

COMDEX Saudi Arabia was officially inaugurated by HRH Prince Abdulmajeed bin Abdulaziz Al Saud, Governor of the Makkah Region, at a colorful opening ceremony in the Jeddah International Exhibition Center (JIEC), complete with light-show and fireworks.

In his remarks, Prince Abdulmajeed declared: "the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia is keen to comply with the developments seen today in the field of IT and the ability it offers to serve both individuals and society." He added "this serious approach by the Kingdom is supported by the Custodian of the Two Holy Mosques, the Crown Prince Abdullah bin Abdulaziz and the Second Deputy Premier Prince Sultan bin Abdulaziz."

During the ceremony, he also presented awards to the sponsors who had supported COMDEX Saudi Arabia from its inception: multinationals Microsoft, Acer, Oracle, SBM/IBM and SAP, plus national companies Saudi Internet, Atheer and Abdulatif Jameel.

Speakers included Dr. Saleh Al Athl - Head of King Abdulaziz College of Science and Technology (KACST), a leading information technology authority in the Kingdom - and Jeddah Chamber of Commerce and Industry Secretary General Dr. Majed Al Kassabi.

Bill Gates, in his letter to exhibitors and visitors, says that a key objective of his team in Saudi Arabia is to show "how technology can unlock the creative potential of your workforce." He adds: "there are many information technology challenges for Saudi Arabia. To me the education of your young people and under-skilled workers is far and away the most important challenge for you."

Gates states that Microsoft are "accelerating our investments in the local market by adding new resources ... and also by localizing our key products into Arabic."

Finally, he welcomes the serious steps being taken by the Saudi government to reduce the pirated use of software, since local IT companies "can't thrive unless there is strong protection of intellectual property rights."

Acknowledging the presence of leading American technology companies, in an open letter to the Comdex participants, U.S. Ambassador to Saudi Arabia Wyche Fowler Jr. stated "...As voice, data, video travel faster and more efficiently through new high speed mediums, Saudi Arabia and other countries of the world will be drawn together even more closely --- hopefully for the better of all mankind."

More than 250 companies are represented at COMDEX Saudi Arabia, on over 100 stands. The COMDEX Saudi Arabia exhibition is open from April 10-13 between 09:30 - 1 pm and 5 pm - 10 pm. The exhibition provides separate sections for trade only and for families and others.

COMDEX Saudi Arabia is organized by the Jeddah Chamber of Commerce and Industry (JCCI). The exhibition is managed by DIT in partnership with ZD Events of the USA. DIT publishes PC Magazine Middle & Near East Arabic and English and the Arabic-language consumer magazine Internet Al Alam Al Arabi. DIT also hosts www.dit.net, the largest IT website in the Arab World.