The latest edition of Intersec Middle East closed its doors registering record attendance and participation as well as securing deals worth millions of euros, organisers Messe Frankfurt said.

More than 630 specialist companies took part from 49 countries, a growth of 54 per cent on the previous year. The event attracted 13,000 industry professionals, an increase of 15 per cent, according to the company.
Intersec, the region’s largest exhibition and conference for commercial security, police and homeland security, safety and health, and fire was held in late January at the Dubai International Convention and Exhibition Centre in the city.
Encouraged by both the volume and quality of attendance, more than 100 exhibitors have already signed up to take part in the next Intersec Middle East event, scheduled for 13 – 15 January 2008. Messe Frankfurt is negotiating double the amount of space at the massive Dubai International Convention and Exhibition Centre.
Commenting on behalf of the company in Dubai, Chris Hudson, chief operating officer, said “this year has really placed Intersec Middle East on the international map. This is no longer a regional show, but something that all major international companies recognise as a platform to do business with major firms and government organisations in the Middle East area.”
Hudson said much of the success enjoyed by Intersec Middle East was attributable to the support of important organisations such as the Dubai Government’s Department of Civil Defence, the Dubai Police and the Institution of Occupational Safety & Health, (IOSH). Hudson said: “The appeal of the show and its conference programme is down to the quality content presented. This is only possible because of the valuable relationships we have with very important and highly influential organisations. We had over 40 international experts talking at our four conference programmes which speaks volumes about the show’s global reach.”
Led by Brigadier Rashid Thani Al Matrooshi, head of Dubai Civil Defence, the conference programme featured specialist forums covering fire, police, safety and health, and commercial security. The programme included presentations from world-renowned specialists such as Sir Ken Knight, commissioner of the London Fire Brigade, Charles Man-Chun Chu, chief officer of Hong Kong Fire Services, Lisa Fowlie, president of the IOSH, and Lord Mackenzie of Framwellgate, police advisor to the UK Government.
Underlining the truly international flavour of the event, Intersec Middle East attracted various delegations and VIPs from around the Middle East and Asia. These included Staff Colonel Abdulla Bin Mohammed Al Sowaidi, general director of Qatar’s Civil Defence, an official delegation from Thailand, including the Thai Ministry of Labour, Ministry of Interior and the Royal Thai Police, and 12 national groups. Country pavilions were represented from countries such as Austria, Germany, Scandinavia, Singapore and the UK. Britain’s presence this year was another record with 104 participants.
Commenting on the final day of the show, Imke Cochran, exhibition manager of Intersec Middle East, said: “Many exhibitors were very satisfied with this year’s show, so much so that over 100 have already signed up for Intersec 2008. Genetec from Canada, Infonova from the US, Optelecom from the Netherlands and the UAE’s Future Link are just four examples.”
Feedback from the many exhibitors was positive too. Canadian exhibitor Hadi Rayes of i3DVR said that he felt extremely positive about Intersec. “It far exceeded expectations, with a lot of interest from the local region, Saudi Arabia and expanding as far as Pakistan,” he commented.  Another exhibitor, Mike Taylor of Fomtec, said, “we were surprised how much bigger the exhibition was this year and how many more international visitors attended.”
Jeff Barker, managing director of Roadblocker, said Intersec had been “absolutely non-stop and they are all good quality (visitors)….US, UK, North Africa and all Middle East, lots from Singapore.” He added that there was “an incredible spread and quality,” and while it was sometimes hard to measure results the Intersec show had been “a totally different experience, great.”
Commercial results too were another successful feature of Intersec 2007. Naffco’s  presence at Intersec was their largest to date and they benefited by securing a contract of 8 million euros ($10.5 million) with an Italian company as well as selling ambulances and fire fighting vehicles to Iran.