Source: www.ameinfo.com
His Highness Sheikh Maktoum bin Mohammed bin Rashid Al Maktoum, officially inaugurated the tenth edition of Cityscape Global in Dubai today Tuesday, September 27, 2011, accompanied by His Highness Sheikh Ahmed bin Saeed Al Maktoum, CEO and Chairman of the Emirates Group, Chairman of Dubai World and President of the Department of Civil Aviation.
H.H Sheikh Maktoum bin Mohammed bin Rashid Al Maktoum took a tour of the Cityscape Global with Cityscape managing director, Rohan Marwaha. This year represents a decade of Cityscape events in Dubai and will run until Thursday 29 September at Dubai International Exhibition and Conference Centre.
The event will host 150 exhibitors from more than 28 countries, showcasing the latest projects and upcoming developments throughout the three days. The opening day also saw the commencement of several of the conference sessions, including Retail City, Global Real Estate Seminars and the World Architecture Congress (WAC), with some of the most respected industry experts taking part in discussions and providing insider knowledge across a range of current hot topics.
His Excellency Engineer Hussain Nasser Lootah gave the opening keynote speech at the Future Cities conference, taking the audience through the vision for Dubai over the upcoming 30 years. Asil Attar, CEO of Majid Al Futtaim Fashion presented the opening session of Retail City, discussing the elevation of retail in the Middle East, with Henning Stüben, partner and director for JDS Architects Copenhagen kicking off WAC with insight into the creation of iconic, yet sustainable, structures.
The first of the Global Real Estate Seminars saw Dubai Land Department, Dubai Properties Group, DAMAC and Diamond Developers come together to discuss the outlook for 2012, predicting trends, sectors for growth and opportunity during the next 12 months.
Rohan Marwaha, managing director of Cityscape, said, “Thank you to His Highness Sheikh Maktoum bin Mohammed bin Rashid Al Maktoum for officially inaugurating Cityscape Global 2011. It is a fantastic achievement for us to be celebrating the tenth edition of this event in Dubai, and we believe that this year will provide an ideal platform to address the challenges of the industry.”
“International exhibitors represent more than 50% of total participation this year and Dubai has grown to become recognised as one of the leading international cities to do business ideally located as a bridge between emerging and mature markets,” added Marwaha.
Also taking place at Cityscape’s opening day will be the presentation of the Retail City Awards and the Cityscape Awards for Architecture in Emerging Markets gala dinner at Madinat Jumeirah in the evening.