Hoping to drum up business overseas, five Atlanta companies plan to send representatives to next month’s Futurallia trade conference in the Persian Gulf country of Qatar.
The conference will be held May 10-12. It will feature a half-day seminar on how to do business in the Persian Gulf followed by face-to-face meetings with up to a dozen business prospects.
Atlanta area companies that have signed up so far are Sirius Chemical Group Inc., based in McDonough, which sells industrial cleaning supplies; CC Imports Inc., a Conyers-based international trade consulting firm; Ayur Imports Inc., of Snellville, which sells herbal products imported from India and Optimum Performance Solutions, an Atlanta management consulting firm. World Trade Center Atlanta, a membership group which promotes international trade and investment and is organizing the Atlanta trip to Qatar, will also send a representative to the conference.
“This is a lifetime opportunity for you to get out of America, stop thinking about this recession and do what you need to do to connect with other nations,” said Charlene Carr, operations director of CC Imports.
Her company is hoping the conference will help it expand its client base in the Middle East. “Many of our Middle East clients need specialized care such as someone to do the legwork in the U.S., someone to rep for them when their products are imported here and to facilitate their clearance through the shipment process,” she said.
Ms. Carr said she has always found the Middle East to be a welcoming business environment. “Middle Eastern countries embrace doing business with the United States,” she said.
Her experience with Middle Eastern clients has been that they prefer to do business in person rather than through e-mail or internet, said Ms. Carr. “They want to get to know their clients,” she said. “They want to feel like they can trust you.”
Companies can still register through April 27 for the Qatar trip. For more information call Lilia Postolachi with World Trade Center Atlanta (404) 813-6672 or e-mail her here.
For more information on the conference, click here.