A Maltese exhibitions and events company was responsible for building the 1,000 square metre Russian display stand at the world armaments exhibition held last month in the United Arab Emirates, under a contract valued at e300,000.
The contract for the design, construction, fitting out, operation and dismantling of the exhibition space was won by the Maltese company ADDS Ltd, a joint venture between AG Design Group Ltd and Zaffarese Exhibitions and Events Ltd.
It was awarded by
the Russian armaments export state corporation, Rosonboronexport, which took one of the most extensive exhibition spaces at the IDEX 2007 International Defence Exhibition, held at the brand new Abu Dhabi National Exhibition Centre.
The two Maltese companies have extensive experience in the exhibitions, events and commercial interiors business and joined forces to combine their skills.
“Conferences, exhibitions and displays have become so sophisticated that a wide variety of resources and services must be brought into play to pull off something like this,” said ADDS Ltd CEO Edward Zammit. “It’s a case of one mistake and you’re out. There can be no short cuts or corner-cutting. You’ve got to know what you’re doing.”
The Abu Dhabi Inter-national Defence Exhibition attracts 900 exhibitors from 50 countries. The Russian stand was one of the four largest at the fair, enough to accommodate 32 companies showing 500 defence and dual-use products.
“The exhibition area had to be extremely high tech to reflect the nature of what was being displayed,” said Mr Zammit. “We used the latest state-of-the-art display technology, including digital signage, touch screens, plasma screens and other sophisticated equipment. There was eight
kilometres of cabling underneath the flooring. We got the job partly because we have in-house capability for all this, and partly because we are 100 per cent hands-on.”
ADDS, through its shareholder companies, has carried out 25 overseas projects so far. Significant contracts from Maltese clients include the production of the Malta Tourism Authority stand at the EIBTM trade show in Barcelona last November.
The company has access to the OSPI (Octanorm Service Partner International) worldwide network of exhibitions and events operators which use the modular Octanorm structural system – acclaimed as the most advanced in the field. Company director Benny Zaffarese said that most of this export work comes through the OSPI network.
“We regularly visit OSPI partners overseas and participate in business conferences,” he said.
“In this field, global networking is crucial. You don’t get the business by sitting in the office.”