CAIRO, EGYPT -- Building on the success of the inaugural edition, MS Marmomacc Samoter Africa & Middle East -- The International Trade Fair for Stone Design, Technology, Earthmoving and Building Machinery -- will be held in Cairo, Egypt, from the November 2 to 5, 2015. The show will be co-located with Projex Africa -- The Future Building and Construction Trade Fair, an event dedicated to materials, technologies and building solutions, with a particular emphasis on green building, sustainability, and innovation.

MS Africa & Middle East 2014 saw the participation of 120 exhibitors from seven countries (Italy, Egypt, China, India, Turkey, Russia and Poland) and over 3,000 professional visitors. Meetings between exhibitors and trade visitors involved in the International Buyers Program included more than 300 B2B meetings. The 2015 International Buyers Program will target professionals from Ethiopia, Mozambique, Angola, South Africa, Nigeria, Algeria, Kenya, Tanzania, the Democratic Republic of the Congo, Uganda, Saudi Arabia, the UAE, India, China, Russia, Germany and Turkey.

Egypt, whose GDP will grow by 4.3% in 2015 to 2016, is one of the most active and dynamic African markets. Its privileged geographical position makes it an ideal candidate for the role of commercial hub for Africa, an emerging continental market consisting of 54 countries and 1.1 billion people with GDP growth estimated at +5.2% per year in 2015 and 2016. Over the years, Egypt has signed several trade agreements that allow access, on preferential terms, to the world's largest markets and various free trade agreements with over 20 African countries.

There are attractive investment opportunities in different sectors: infrastructure, residential housing, tourism, transportation and logistics. The Egyptian Government has defined a medium-term development strategy with the primary objective of improving the overall infrastructure and housing quality, as well as encouraging growth. More than 60 projects -- public and private -- will be completed in the next few years: from the launch of the New Cairo -- the new administrative and economic capital, a sustainable and 'intelligent' project that will cover an area of over 270 square miles and will house 5 million residents -- to the 1.15 million new housing units that will be built over the next five years, big luxury malls and new resorts on the Red Sea.

MS Africa & Middle East is organized by Veronafiere in cooperation with Egyptian partners Art Line and ExpoLink. The show combines Veronafiere's experience with Marmomacc, the leading trade fair for the natural stone sector (materials, design and technologies), and with Samoter, the reference exhibition dedicated to earth-moving and construction machinery. Veronafiere's participation in this project helps to drive Italian and international excellence in the construction field to African markets.