14/5/2006

A KEY participant at Bahrain International Travel Expo (BITE 2006) has selected the country as the venue for an international IT conference.

The Indian Express Group - Business Publication Division - has signed a $500,000 (BD189,000) contract with Sunshine Tours for the event.

The contract has come as a valuable spin off from the Hosted Buyer-Seller meetings held during BITE 2006, said Jamil A Wafa, chairman of Sunshine Tours and group chairman of Magnum Holdings, the parent company of Magnum Exhibitions and Events Management (MEEM), the organisers of BITE 2006.

Under the contract, the Indian Express Group - Business Publication Division - will be hosting its Technology Senate 2006 Conference and Exhibition in Bahrain, said Mr Wafa, who co-signed the contract with the division head and vice-president Sandeep Khosla.

Around 350 senior IT experts will be visiting Bahrain for the three-day conference, which is scheduled to be held at the end of the October, he revealed.

The Technology Senate 2005 was held last September in Bangkok.

This is the fourth annual meeting for international IT professionals being organised by the Indian group.

The first meeting was held in Cochin, Kerala, in 2003, and the second one was hosted in Colombo in 2004.

Sunshine Tours is one of the first agents to make an announcement of the signing of a contract at BITE 2006, though several other deals were signed during the three-day event last week, said Mr Wafa.

Sunshine Tours will be managing the entire arrangements for the delegates, including the workshop and conference, which will be held in the Crowne Plaza's Bahrain Conference Centre.

Besides the conference and exhibition, the group will be taken around the sites of Bahrain, experience the facilities at the Bahrain International Circuit, and enjoy the water sports activities at Al Bander Resort.

"We are extremely impressed by the facilities for conferences and exhibitions in Bahrain," Mr Khosla told the GDN. "We were also pleased with the professional approach shown by Sunshine Tours which prompted us to choose Bahrain as the venue for our next IT summit."

The Technology Senate is a by - invitation - only annual forum for India's leading chief information officers and chief technical officers and IT decision makers, said Mr Khosla.

"As a retreat away from the pressures of life, it is an innovative platform for knowledge sharing, peer networking, celebrating achievements, and showcasing exciting technologies."