A GROUP of 25 companies from the Slovak Republic, Serbia, Czech Republic, Ukraine and Spain were at gulfBID 2009, scouting for business opportunities in the Gulf region offering a paraphernalia of products and services.

The companies were participating under the banner of Mimco Group, which is a joint venture of Euro Arabian Business Centre (EABC) and local partner Khalifa Ahmed Al Mannai.
As many as 23 of these companies were making their debut in Bahrain – while the other two firms participated at the Gulf Industry Fair, a dedicated exhibition for the industrial sector, held earlier this year.
“Most of these companies are eager to set up joint ventures in the region, which will be established in liaison with the Mimco Group,” says Anna Fischer, director for EU of EABC.
Among those present was Liv Elektra, which intends to offer turnkey solutions in the power generation sector; Adotel-Hex, which is keen to assist in the GCC’s plans to set up a railway network; and PRP Slovakia, which was promoting construction timber. In the water and wastewater segment, two leading Slovak companies were promoting their skills in setting up water treatment facilities: Hydrocoop specialises in large urban developments including towns and multi-compounds, providing savings in water consumption and recycling water for irrigation, while IL Plus focuses on small-scale domestic waste water treatment facilities, typically compounds with 10 to 50 people.
Liv Elektra’s manager of production Frantisek Pecho – who has had extensive experience on the committee responsible for linking up power grids of Western Europe with Slovakia and the neighbouring region – was at gulfBID to recommend solutions that would be suitable for the GCC’s own power grid.
“A lot of expertise goes into ensuring efficiency in linking up the power grid to eliminate blackouts and control peak loads,” says Pecho. “Such a grid requires an array of protection systems, sensors, control systems, computer systems and above all the expertise in drafting out systems and components which would be compatible with each other.”
Liv Electra’s scope of activities includes construction, reconstruction, modernisation and maintenance of electrical facilities, substations and transformer stations, complete low-voltage services until EHV cabling, electro-assembly works; production of switchgear and control gear assembly, steel structure construction and civil works. The company, which offers a range of CE-certified systems for transformer stations and transmission networks, has joined hands with Adato – which specialises in the power generation segment – to offer a total turnkey service in setting up power generation facilities.
“We are currently in the process of getting our systems approved by the Ministry of Electricity and the Chamber of Commerce,” says Pecho. These systems will be marketed in the region through Mimco Group.
Adato, set up nine years ago, gets to the finer details of power generation.
“Our core business is providing innovative engineering solutions in the heat and power generation business,” said Tricko Tibor, a spokesman for Adato.
Adato, which uses gas turbines from Rolls Royce and generators from Siemens and ABB, focuses on heating and power plants, cogeneration and combined cycle plants based on gas engines and gas turbines, municipal waste incineration plants, pumping stations, piping and pipelines, standard coal, oil and gas-fired boilers, heat-recovery steam generators, biomas-fired boilers, refurbishment of existing plants and production of finned tubes through high-frequency welding.
Liv Electra also brought in its wholly-owned subsidiary Biospol Group, which offers a spectrum of renewable energy solutions, ranging from biogas to photovoltaics, as well as solid waste sorting solutions.
“Biospol, in fact, is always looking for solutions to ‘complete the circle’ in terms of recycling waste and thus provide water for irrigation, processing sludge to be re-used as compost,” says Fischer.
PRP, which was on the look out for agencies for its high-quality timber products, reported wide interest in its products and has been in negotiations with a number of trading firms. The firm was confident of signing up orders following a visit to the Slovak Republic by its prospective clients this month.
“Our wood products are very competitive and of the same or even better quality as Austrian wood, which is popular in the region. In addition, we are able to meet the price requirements of the region,” said Roman Reh, adviser of export director for PRP.
“Another competitive edge that we offer is in terms of transportation, which we can arrange to Bahrain or any other part of the GCC. We can supply our timber products to clients both in containers or break bulk within a lead time of 40 days,” said a spokesman for ARRS Forwarding, with which PRP has tied up to offer a swift delivery time.
First time exhibitor Adotel-Hex from Slovakia showcased its expertise in systems engineering and consulting.
“We specialise in safety and signalling systems in the transport industry, particularly in railway networks,” said Adotel-Hex marketing director Maria Petrovicova. “There may not be railway systems developed in this part of the world yet, but they are coming in the future and we saw this event as a good opportunity to meet the people who will be developing them.
“We also offer signalling systems for highways. Our capabilities also extend to telecom where we design, implement and install the latest systems,” she said. “There is a strong Slovakia presence at this show because we see it as a key event to break into this market place.”
Other companies under the Mimco umbrella included Albat, which offers energy systems such as uninterrupted power supply (UPS), stationary batteries and charging equipment and inverters; and Dynamic 3D, which set up a projector booth to demonstrate the high quality of its 3D films which can be used by architects and project developers and also by companies as promotional material.