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Dubai to host Annual World Dental Congress

DUBAI - Dubai will host 20,000 dental practitioners from 157 countries for the Annual World Dental Congress and exhibition to be held at the Dubai International Convention Centre (DICC) from October 24 to 27, 2007.

The Annual World Dental Congress (Dubai 2007), will be hosted jointly by the World Dental Federation (FDI) and the Dubai Department of Health and Medical Services (Dohms), and is being organised by Index Conference and Exhibition Organising Establishment.

The congress is expected to give a major boost to the local economy since dental practitioners, noted for their high income levels, are expected to spend considerably more than the average tourist.

Qassem Sultan, the Chairman of the Board of Directors of the Dohms, who was joined by J. T. Barnard, FDI Executive Director, made the announcement yesterday at a Press conference in the presence of Qadi Saeed Al Mroushid, Director General of the Dohms, Abdel Salam Madani, from Index, and representatives from local government departments sponsoring the event.

"For the first time in the 102-year history of the FDI, the UAE flag was raised at the world dental congress in Sydney, Australia, last September, when the UAE became the 153rd country to join the FDI. The 2007 event will be the first FDI congress to be held in the Arab world, which highlight's the trust people have in Dubai and the UAE and the important role our country play's on the international arena," Mr Sultan said.

He stressed that as preparation for the Annual Meetings of the Boards of Governors of the World Bank Group and the International Monetary Fund, started three years before the actual event, so too for Dubai 2007. Although the annual world dental conference will be a scientific and technical event and not a political one, its size warrants early preparation.

Mr Barnard said that the mission of the FDI is to speak on behalf of the dental profession worldwide and to collaborate with dental associations of its member countries, to help develop the art and science of dentistry and to lend support to member countries in whatever way they can, in addition to help develop and support dental and oral hygiene systems, especially in the developed world.

"Dubai came into the picture three years ago when Abdul Salam Madani, Director of Index, paid us a visit in London when the FDI headquarters was based there and Dubai was in a bid to host the 2005 meeting. There were many countries competing for that and we finally agreed that Montreal in Canada should host the 2005 meeting. I was keen to hold the annual congress in this region and Dubai's bid to host the 2007 congress was approved by the FDI council," Mr Barnard said.

Mr Madani said that next year the congress will be hosted in India, with Canada hosting it the following year and China the year after that: "It will be expensive to host such a major event, Index will be sponsoring over 200 speakers along with the FDI. ... In 2007, the UAE International Dental Conference and Arab Dental Exhibition (AEEDC) will not be held as a separate event but will instead be merged with the Annual World Dental Meeting.

"If the last AEEDC exhibition included over 300 medical companies and institutions, then we anticipate that the combined Dubai 2007 dental products exhibition will include participation by over 1,000 companies, hospitals and medical institutions from 157 member countries," Mr Madani said. He estimated that the exhibition alone will need to occupy at least five halls at the DICC.

He said that a team from the FDI came one year ago to Dubai and paid a visit to Shaikh Hamdan bin Rashid Al Maktoum, Dubai Deputy Ruler and UAE Minister of Finance and Industry. The team evaluated Dubai's readiness to host the event in 2007 and in July this year it was officially decided at the FDI headquarters in Geneva to hold the 2007 congress in Dubai.

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