Germany - Khaleej Times 2014

GermanySPECIAL REPORT | MAY 7, 2014

Europe's hubRenowned for its exports and strong domestic demand

4 KT Special RepoRT May 07, 2014

G E R M A N Y

EDITORIALExecutive EditorPatrick MichaelSupplements EditorSuchitra Steven SamuelSub-Editor Sadiq ShabanReporters Farhana ChowdhurySuneeti Ahuja-Kohli

PRODUCTIONDesignersMohammad Ejaz KhanSidharthanImagingVenugopal Prabhu

ADVERTISINGDirector AdvertisingHaroon QureshiSenior Advertising Manager(Supplements)Philip Smith

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Hammad Abdullah Al Mass, Ex-ecutive Director of the Interna-tional Economic Relations Sec-tor, Abu Dhabi Department of Economic Development (ADD-ED) met with his German coun-terpart, Dieter W. Haller, Head of the Economic Department at the German Federal Foreign Office, at Hannover Messe in April this year.

Commenting on the strong UAE-Germany relationship, Haller expressed his interest in further developing the positive economic partnership between the two countries. He said that the UAE’s increased and continued participation at the Hannover Messe was an important step towards achieving fruitful out-comes in the UAE-Germany trade links and economic growth.

Last year, German exports to the UAE increased by two per cent to more than €10 billion (equivalent to Dh50.5 billion), whilst German imports from the UAE increased by 2.5 per cent to €0.8 billion (Dh4 billion) during the same time. Haller has expressed his plans to visit the UAE in the next eight to 10 weeks.

The year 2014 marks the seventh time that ADDED has exhibited at the world’s largest industrial fair, Hannover Messe 2014. The UAE pavilion — its largest-ever at more than 1,000 square metres — comprised 34 exhibitors from across the UAE, including Ras Al Khaimah Free Zone Authority and the Economic Development Department of Sharjah.

Economic partnErship sEt to grow strongErGerman Federal Foreign Office meets with Abu Dhabi Department of Economic Development at Hannover Messe 2014

Dieter W. Haller, Head of the economic Department at the German Federal Foreign office, meets Hammad abdullah al Mass, executive Director of the international economic Relations Sector at Hannover Messe 2014

Uae Minister of Foreign affairs abdullah bin Zayed al Nahyan (right) and German Foreign Minister Guido Westerwelle at a joint press conference in abu Dhabi last November. — AFP


G E R M A N Y

FoLLoWING a hugely successful participa-tion at the Arabian Travel Market (ATM)

last year, the German Nation-al Tourist Office (GNTO), local affiliate of the German Na-tional Tourist Board (GNTB) in the Gulf region, is all set to showcase its travel and tour-ism opportunities at the ATM 2014 to be held in Dubai World Trade Centre for four days from May 5 to 8, 2014.

"The ATM is a significant event in the arena of international travel and tourism in the Middle East and it will be a great opportunity for us and our partners to participate in it this year," said Maria Amaral, Manager of the Marketing & Sales Office Gulf Countries at GNTo in Gulf region. "The ATM provides us the link to set up friendly ties with the GCC countries through travel and tourism," she added.

Destination Germany offers

a variety of travel packages and some great deals that visitors to the country can choose from to suit their budget and requirement. F i n d i n g t h e p e r f e c t accommodation is also not a problem. Families can avail the benefit of Vacation homes for a 'Home away from Home' experience or go in for a stylish vacation by choosing a luxury accommodation in an exotic castle or palace or maybe a villa in an enchanting environment. For the young traveller there are guesthouses and youth hostels, while the

SHoWcaSiNG TailoR-MaDe ToURiSM oFFeRS

Germany plans mega presence at Arabian Travel Market in Dubai

adventurous young Arab can choose to stay at campsites according to his budget.

With more than 1.5 million overnight stays by tourists from the Gulf region in 2013, which is an all-time record according to the figures supplied by the Federal Statistical Office, Arab travel to Germany has provided a 20 per cent year-on-year growth for the industry in the country. "The GCC being Germany's fourth largest non-European market source, GNTo's participation in the ATM brings to enthusiastic Arab tourists varied travel options to the country. our participation in the ATM this year serves to focus on families and young Arab travellers,” Amaral went on to elaborate.

Germany has an abundance of historical and architectural monuments to attract visitors from all over the world. Be it the military structures of Ancient Rome, Gothic structures, the princely houses of Baroque architecture or the landscapes of Classicism, Germany has them all. “But Germany is not all history and architecture alone,” Maria

Amaral notes. “The country has several natural and picturesque parks and river valleys that make Arab visitors of all age fall madly in love with it. Not to forget the numerous attractive shopping facilities and malls, dream-like nature of the German cit ies, amusement parks and the moderate climate. All this make travelling to destination Germany an enjoyable experience for young people, and also an ideal place for a family holiday.”

Germany also boasts good infrastructure and convenient transportation that makes moving around trouble-free and agreeable for the Arab tourist who is used to similar benefits in the Middle East. Public transport in Germany is one of the best in Europe. Almost all places in Germany are well connected through an efficient network of trains and trams and frequent bus services as well. Germans are car lovers and travellers to the country with a valid driving licence can take advantage of the autobahn.

— [email protected]

Maria amaral

G E R M A N Y


G E R M A N Y

THE laying of the foun-dation stone in 2003 in Zonescorp, Abu Dhabi, has paved

way to create one of the first premier pharmaceutical man-ufacturing facilities in the UAE. Neopharma’ s Managing Director and CEo Dr B R Shet-ty commented: “‘The manu-facturing facility in Abu Dhabi is built on the concept of modular manufacturing and follows global benchmarks in manufacturing technology and efficient control methods, ensuring all the medicines will be made with the highest quality standards.”

Neopharma has received various prestigious awards in its decade long journey. Neopharma leverages its formulation development and manufacturing expertise to contract manufacturing for leading multinational pharma companies. It has

presence in 20 international markets including GCC, Middle East, Africa and Central Asia.

Neopharma, one of the first Abu Dhabi-based ge-neric manufacturing compa-nies in the UAE arena, is thriving, flourishing, boom-ing and profitable. It is an exemplar of the UAE’s unique strengths as a manufactur-ing hub. Neopharma is all set to progress, proceed and make headway in the phar-maceutical and healthcare diligence.

The firm has two manufac-turing units — one for oral penicillin products and the other for general products with various therapeutic cat-egories. Till date, it has launched about 55 molecules and account for about 150 SKUs. Neopharma is now available in 16 countries, and predominant in MENA region.

It plans to expand its opera-tions to five more countries by the end of this year.

Neopharma is proud to have established contract-manufacturing collaboration with multinational giant Mer-ck Serono. In the first phase, it is going to manufacture about 300 million tablets, and facilities have been upgraded with higher capacity equip-ment for this. Neopharma has also completed the first phase in technology transfer and is ready for the commercial manufacturing after the ap-proval of the Ministry of Health. Initially Merck’s two products Glucophage and Eu-thyrox will be manufactured at Neopharma and sure to follow with many additional products.

The first contract with Merck Serono has paved way for many such collaborations with top multinational com-

panies. Hence Neopharma has invested to setup addi-tional manufacturing and a new R&D facility Dr B R Shet-ty Research and Develop-ment centre with an outlay of $75 million, which will be ready by the end of the year. This will be a pivotal hub for large research projects.

Moving forward from an oil-based economy to industri-alisation, there has been a paradigm shift in the eco-nomic landscape. The UAE has all ingredients conducive for the industrial growth. With the strategic geograph-ic location, economic resil-ience, cultural tolerance and excellent support by the ZonesCorp and regulators, the UAE has become a safe haven for industrial growth.

In the future, Neopharma envisions itself to become a UAE-based transnational pharmaceutical company.

PELIKAN is a German brand established in April 28, 1838. The Pelikan logo is now

one of the oldest registered trademarks in Germany. The company was founded as an ink and paint factory, and in 1929, Pelikan invented and manufactured the plunger piston mechanism, and there-after started developing writ-ing instruments for use in office as well as high-end writing instruments for pen collectors.

Today, Pelikan is one of the market leaders and pioneers providing fine writing instru-

ments worldwide. Pelikan strives to maintain the brand’s reputation that stands for high quality, innovation, reli-ability, diversity and creativ-ity in its product offerings.

Made with decades of ex-perience, the Pelikan assort-ment stands for fine writing at its best. Well-known all over the world due to the typical shape of the crown, it is either finished with golden or silver applications and ap-peals to every lover of high quality writing instruments. It covers a wide range of refined materials, be it gold, silver, high-quality resin, or elegant aluminium, and all compo-nents are made in Germany.

Since January 2011, Pelikan

has contracted with Porsche Design for producing its writ-ing tools and distributing these across the globe.

Porsche Design is one of the leading luxury brands in the segment of high-value acces-sories. Since more than four decades Porsche Design goes beyond an excellent design that exceeds expectations. The products stand for func-tional, timeless and puristic design and convince through technical innovations. It com-bines clear shapes and inno-vative techniques to create a functional design. The Porsche Design Writing Tool collections are created for highest writing comfort, convincing in touch and feel.

The Pelikan Fine Writing In-struments & Porsche Design Writing Tools are distributed in the Middle East, Africa & SAARC countries by Pelikan Middle East (FZE) through Business Partners’ network, who specialize in handling brands for the exclusive indi-viduals introducing them to a Luxury lifestyle.

For further information and details visit: www.pelikan.comhttps://www.facebook.com/pelikan.ae www.porsche-design.comWiDeNiNG pReSeNce

Fine writing at its best

Neopharma is one of the first generic drug manufacturing companies in the UAE, with a strong foundation in the region

Pelikan continues to be a world-renowned brand of high quality writing instruments

2005: Dr B R Shetty, MD & ceo of Neopharma, receiving the first “order of abu Dhabi award” from General Shaikh Mohammed bin Zayed al Nahyan, crown prince of abu Dhabi and Deputy Supreme of the Uae armed Forces

2006: Dr B R Shetty, MD & ceo of Neopharma, receiving the prestigious Mohammed Bin Rashid al Maktoum award in Manufacturing category from His Highness Shaikh Mohammed bin Rashid al Maktoum, Vice-president and prime Minister of the Uae and Ruler of Dubai


G E R M A N Y

ESTABLISHED in 1668, science-driven Merck is one of the oldest pharmaceutical and

chemical companies in the world. It combines the best of an agile biotech with global pharmaceutical expertise aimed at improving the qual-ity of life for patients. In 2012, it recorded total revenues of more than €11 billion.

Merck Serono is the biop-harmaceutical division of Merck, driven by an enduring commitment to transform patients’ lives by providing innovative speciality medi-cines and high-value solu-tions. It uniquely combines the assets of a leading bio-tech pioneer with Merck’s deep-rooted tradition in pharmaceutical science. Merck Serono’s commercial offer includes a balance of innovative biological drugs and a diverse portfolio of mature products.

Innovative therapies and top-quality products

Innovative medicines create value in the life of people ev-erywhere, and Merck Serono continues to invest worldwide for the research.

Last year, Merck Serono received the Frost & Sullivan 2013 Product Differentiation Excellence Award for its in-novative human growth hor-mone delivery devices, Easy-pod, as well as the services that come with it.

Pharmaceutical companies need to demonstrate that their brand adds value to pa-tients in the long term. Mer-ck Serono develops plans for

this shift. “For us the patient is the

centre of our attention. Be-fore starting with the devel-opment of the devices, we do extensive research with pa-tients and physicians. Merck Serono is committed to de-velop innovative approaches to help patients improve their quality of life. Easypod devel-opment is a clear example, as we are the only company offering an automatic injector in the field of growth hor-mone therapy,” says the com-pany’s spokesperson.

This system involves an auto injector and a patient monitoring software (Easypod) that monitors patient adherence and treatment outcome. It collects data and helps the physician to follow accordingly.

“All our improvements are driven from feedback that we receive from the different stakeholders whether it is a

award-winning patient-centric servicesMerck Serono believes that individualised therapy and solutions with full patient satisfaction is key to successful healthcare practices

physician, a nurse or a pa-tient. In addition, we have developed in most of the major markets a patient help line and call centres where patients report their feed-back and whether they have any questions related to the usage of our drug or device,” adds the spokesperson.

As a company, Merck Serono invests a lot in oncology treatment focusing chiefly on personalised therapy. Its main focus is on colorectal cancer, head and neck cancer, brain tumour, and lung cancer.

Merck Serono developed an important biomarker test for the treatment of meta-static colorectal cancer called K-RAS, a genetic test. Thus, the individualised unique treatment approach in colon cancer enabled phy-sicians to understand how the cancer will progress or from which treatment it can benefit by this molecular ex-amination of cancer cells. In this way, the treatment chance in patients is in-creased and side effects originating from the treat-ment are minimised. K-RAS gives information about the genetic structure of tumour, and helps physicians to choose the drug.

Better patient experience

With lower R&D productivity and higher development costs on one side, and pres-sure on access through re-imbursement and price cuts on the other, there was nev-er so much pressure on this

industry to change. Changes are occurring in research, development and also in commercialisation where past models have shown their limitations.

Prevention policies and programmes can be cost-effective, reduce healthcare costs, and improve produc-tivity, while investments in prevention complement and support treatment and care.

Patient engagement is a priority, and more pro-grammes are being rolled out to focus on increasing patient engagement. For instance, one of the therapeutic areas Merck Serono is involved in is multiple sclerosis (MS).

“When we ask people liv-ing with MS what they want, they tell us they need more than effective medication. They want to be involved in their treatment. So to keep people living with MS en-gaged in their care, we offer patient-centered services, easy to use devices and a Disease Modifying Drug (DMD) with proven efficacy and a well-understood safe-ty profile,” informs the spokesperson.

Merck Serono operates re-search centres in Europe, the US and Asia, allowing it to exploit strong local net-works and ensure diversity. In Research and Develop-ment, oncology, multiple sclerosis and immune sys-tem-related disorders are its key areas of focus. In addi-tion, it continues to conduct product development in fer-tility and endocrinology.

“We intend to increasingly

paolo carli head of mnE, Ksa and Egypt


G E R M A N Y

apply our strengths in biotechnology products. We are also aiming to develop non-invasive techniques to assess the oocyte and embryo quality and the implantation parameters, which will help to increase the ‘take home baby rate’, which is the primary end point of ART treatments.”

Besides, it also aims to provide patient-centric sup-port services at home through dedicated nurses, on the phone through com-passionate and knowledge-able nurses and support staff, online, on the go (through smart phone apps), face-to-face or in print.

Merck Serono’s main target is to develop devices, which will help clinicians to under-stand patient’s treatment progresses, improve results, and help patients to have their treatments in more con-venient ways, thus increasing treatment adherence.

In the near future, physi-cians aim to load genetic de-tails of tumours on comput-ers, and visualise the most appropriate matches, and

form final decisions accord-ing to these matches and progress to the treatment.

“The medical world ex-pects cancer to transform into a disease in the near fu-ture, which is kept under control for many years. Mer-ck Serono has a very prom-ising product portfolio in on-cology and we will continue to develop the new treat-ment options worldwide for oncology patients.”

Major achievements in the Middle East since 1985

Merck Serono is setting new

standards in the regional in-dustry through strategic partnerships that will posi-tively impact the manufac-turing capabilities and the future of the pharmaceutical industry in the Middle East. The GCC, including the UAE, suffers from some of the highest prevalence of diabe-tes and other non-communi-cable diseases. Merck Serono focuses on areas of high-unmet medical need and is a leader in providing differenti-ated medicines to help im-prove patient outcomes.

Through an alliance with Neopharma in the UAE to

manufacture and distribute needed medicines, the GCC will benefit from greater ac-cess to important therapies such as Glucophage for the treatment of type 2 diabetes. The Neopharma and Merck Serono partnership character-ises the UAE’s rapidly develop-ing healthcare industry and improved manufacturing ca-pabilities, putting it on-par with international standards of pharmaceutical production.

In 2011 and 2012, Merck Serono Middle East was the only pharmaceutical com-pany to win a top 10 rank in “Great Places to Work” and is proud to be considered by the UAE Ministry of Health for key business ventures such as local production of pharmaceutical products and ensuring medical access to neighbouring countries.

Merck Serono Middle East is also proud of its recent par tnersh ip w i th the University of oxford and UAE-based health authorities to run national diabetes surveys using a UK-based running model for risk and complication assessment.

Dr B R Shetty, Managing Director and chief executive officer of Neophama, and Dr Stefan oschmann, Member for the executive Board and ceo pharma, signing the agreement

Left to right: Na’am Jamshed, Governmental affairs and Market access Director; abdul Jabbar al Sayegh, Board Member and chairman of the Trade committee, abu Dhabi chamber of commerce and industry; elcin ergun, executive Vice president, Head of Global commercial, Merck Serono; Dr B R Shetty, Managing Director and chief executive officer of Neophama; Dr Stefan oschmann, Member of the executive Board, ceo pharma; Dream Samir, Managing Director Middle east, Merck Serono; Dr Mohammed abul Khair, Head of Drug and Medical products Regulation Section, Health authority abu Dhabi

THE fall of the Berlin Wall was one of the most monumental events in German history. At 9:20pm on November 9, 1989, guards at

the Bornholmer Strasse border crossing let the first East German citizens enter West Berlin.

Shortly before midnight, the crowd had grown so large that the gates were finally lifted and joyful celebrations swept across the city. Millions of people gloablly watched these historic scenes unfolded live on television. on Novem-ber 9 this year, 25 years will have passed since the Wall fell, and on this occasion visitors from around the world will have an opportunity to look back on the mo-mentous scenes at a variety of events and exhibitions.

The highlight of the 25th anniversary

celebrations is a major light installation on November 8 and 9, where 1,000 il-luminated, helium-filled balloons will serve as a visual reminder of the former wall and a ‘symbol of hope for a world without walls’. This ‘frontier of light’ will stretch for 12 kilometres starting at the former border crossing at Bornholmer Strasse, across the Berlin Wall Park, past the Berlin Wall Memorial, and through the city centre all the way to oberbaum-brücke Bridge. The idea is to be able to bring to mind the former division as they walk along the ‘wall of light’.

Events marking the anniversary

On August 16 and 17 this year, visitors to Berlin will have the opportunity to run the length of the Berlin Wall Trail stretch-ing to 100 miles (160.9 kilometres) — either on their own or as a team.

From November 21, 2014 to March 9, 2015, Berlinische Galerie will run an exhibition on urban planning and con-struction in the divided Berlin of the 1960s.

An exhibition of never-seen-before colour photographs taken by East Ger-man photo journalists Martin Schmidt (born 1925) and Kurt Schwarzer (1927-2012), offers insights into how people in East Germany managed on a day-to-day basis and what life was like under the GDR regime.

Until August 31 this year, the German Historical Museum will display around 200 photographs that portray a wide range of images spanning four decades of East Germany.

WalK aloNG THe Wall oF liGHTBerlin hosts activities to celebrate the 25th anniversary of the fallen Wall


G E R M A N Y

AS THE largest chemical company in the world, BASF is a name to reckon

with. Headquartered in Ludwigshafen, Germany, the Group has subsidiaries and joint ventures around the world. BASF has production sites in Europe, Asia, Australia, Americas and Africa apart from growing investments in the Middle East. BASF’s Florian Kreuckl spoke to Khaleej Times about the Group’s business areas and activities. Excerpts:

How did BASF grow from a local German company in 1865 to a leading organisation operating around the world?

BASF was founded almost 150 years ago in Germany, when Friedrich Engelhorn, owner of a coal gas company in Man-nheim, recognised the oppor-tunities to produce brilliant dyestuff for coal tar, a by-product of his company’s business. He formed a stock corporation in 1865 under the name of Badische Anilin & Soda-Fabrik. He quickly de-cided to broaden the com-pany’s business and ever since, BASF has grown by capitalising on various oppor-tunities around it. Today, the company operates in five dis-tinct spheres: Chemicals, per-formance products, construc-tion materials, agricultural solutions and oil and gas.

Give us a brief about your global and Middle East strategy. BASF’s corporate purpose ‘We create chemistry for a sus-tainable future’ highlights our global ambition to provide in-novative yet environmental-friendly products for all indus-tries. BASF recognises that the planet’s natural resources are finite, and heavily invests in research and development to produce smart, customised and functionalised materials and system solutions. We thus create global partner-ships with leading research institutes to link expertise in chemistry, biology, physics, and engineering to deliver economic success with social responsibility.

BASF has been operating in the GCC, Levant, Iran and Egypt for several decades.

intelligent solutions, sophisticated productsThe company’s strategy of creating chemistry for a sustainable future combines economic success with environmental protection, social responsibility and innovation

our growing investments in the region are aligned to BASF’s commitment to Mid-dle East expansion and growth. The multi-million dollar BASF production facil-ity in Bahrain which was built in 2012 to address the grow-ing needs of customer-spe-cific antioxidant blends is an apt illustration of the multi-national corporation’s goal of moving closer to its custom-ers so we can better respond to their needs.

Explain the business ar-eas of each of your com-pany’s five divisions.

In the chemicals segment, BASF supplies products to customers in the chemical, electronics, construction, textile, automotive, pharma-ceutical and agricultural in-dustries as well as many oth-ers. We also ensure that other BASF segments are supplied with chemicals for producing downstream prod-ucts. our portfolio ranges from basic chemicals, glues and electronic chemicals for the semiconductor and solar cell industries, to solvents, plasticisers and large-volume monomers, as well as start-ing materials for detergents, plastics, textile fibres, paints and coatings, and pharma-ceuticals.

Performance products lend stability and colour to count-less everyday items and help to improve their application profile. Our product portfolio

includes vitamins and food additives as well as ingredi-ents for pharmaceuticals and for hygiene, home and per-sonal care items.

In the Functional Materials and Solutions segment, we bundle system solutions, ser-vices and innovative prod-ucts for specific sectors and customers, in particular for the automotive, electrical, chemical and construction industries as well as for household appliances, sports and leisure products.

our Agro Food and Feed segment includes crop pro-tection products guard against fungal diseases, in-

Florian Krueckl managing Director, BasF FZE and BasF Kanoo gulf LLc, UaEhead of Business center platform middle East

BasF has been

operating in the region for decades. we have offices in the UaE, saudi arabia, Bahrain, Egypt, Qatar, and iran. our business revolves around the business-to-business model. most of our products are mainly supplied to factories.

Florian Krueckl

BasF has been in the UaE since the 1970s and it is a key market for

us. here, our construction and chemical divisions are the most active, since they cater to multiple businesses that include the country’s thriving construction and industrial sector.

sects and weeds and they increase quality and secure crop yields.

our Energy and Resources segment focuses on explora-tion and production in oil and gas rich regions in Europe, North Africa, Middle East, South America, Russia and the Caspian Sea region. To-gether with our Russian partner Gazprom, we are ac-tive in the transport, storage and trading of natural gas in Europe.

Give us a summary of your activities in the MEA region.

BASF has been operating in the region for decades. We have offices in the UAE, Sau-di Arabia, Bahrain, Egypt, Qatar, and Iran. our business revolves around the business-to-business model. Most of our products are mainly sup-plied to factories.

The BASF Plastics, Con-struction, Energy and Re-sources, Agro Food and Feed are four active business seg-ments in the region. As such, BASF Middle East caters to multiple key industries such as construction, oil and gas, utilities (water treatment) and agriculture sectors. BASF technology INGE is an example of our innovative wastewater treatment solu-tions, which are extensively used in this water-stressed and arid region to desalinate seawater through less car-bon-intensive means. BASF also offers convenient solu-tions for the consumer goods sector including industrial chemicals, petrochemicals,

gas purification, oilfield chemicals, sea water desali-nation, packaging, engineer-ing plastics, plastics addi-tives, paints and coatings and inks.

Tell us more about your activities in the UAE market.

BASF has been in the UAE since the 1970s and it is a key market for us. Here, our construction and chemical divisions are the most active, since they cater to multiple businesses that include the country’s thriving construc-tion and industrial sector. We have been involved in most of the major projects built in the Emirates in the last 35 years from the Dubai Creek in the 1980s, the Dubai Chamber of Commerce Build-ing in the 1990s and more recently the iconic Burj Khal-ifa. BASF’s innovative out-look and the nature of our products and services em-phasize high quality, consis-tency and sustainability – qualities that appeal greatly to our customers.

Our 650 staff have been busy implementing our cor-porate strategy ‘We create chemistry for a sustainable future’ that combines eco-nomic success with environ-mental protection, social re-sponsibility and innovation. We are the founding mem-bers of the Emirates Green Building Council, a non-prof-it organisation formed in 2006 with the goal of advanc-ing green building principles for protecting the environ-ment in the UAE.


G E R M A N Y

T EKA Küchentechnik began production in Germany in 1924 with the manufac-

turing of kitchen sinks and gradually increased its range to include all kitchen appli-ances that are manufactured in its 32 factories within Eu-rope. Teka began its Middle East operations in 2002-03 with its base in Jebel Ali Free Zone and provides its prod-ucts and services without any agent or intermediate through its regional offices for all the GCC countries.

Teka has become a leader in the built-in kitchen sector of this market due to the quality and innovation of its products and service. over 225 different projects of leading property developers like Emaar, Nakheel, Damac, Aldar and others, are now equipped with Teka kitchens appliances. Furthermore, the company has developed its retail business to the extent that more than 200 kitchen specialists in the UAE are selling Teka appliances, sinks and taps in addition to their kitchen cabinets.

“This has been possible because Teka considers the kitchen specialists as its part-ners and gives them full sup-port by the quality of its ser-vices that do not give a

Bringing quality and innovationTeka UAE consolidates leadership in the country’s kitchen appliances market

reason to complain, efficient Teka teamwork, high quality products and regular training provided by Teka experts to the studios staff,” informs Arturo Manso, Managing Di-rector, Teka Küchentechnik UAE and Teka Middle East.

“our success is due to the constant effort, alongside with the support of our net-work of kitchen specialists, main construction compa-

nies, architects, interior de-signers and in general all the kitchen industry who make us more proud of represent-ing a German brand in the Middle East,” he added.

“It is time now for con-solidation of the gains made by Teka in retail business. We do not expect the number of kitchen specialists to increase much because of the market size, but our aim is to further

increase Teka business with them,” Manso said.

He said that the replace-ment business was also in-creasing in the UAE since kitchen appliances installed in buildings that were com-pleted several years ago are now being replaced. Consid-ering all this, Teka has set a target to increase sales in the Middle East in 2014 by up to another 20 per cent.

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Germany - Khaleej Times 2014