Dubai: Sultan Ahmad Bin Sulayem, Chairman of Ports, Customs and Free Zone, on Thursday inaugurated the 18th edition of the Carpet and Arts Oasis 2013, organised by Dubai Customs at Dubai World Trade Centre, as one of the main long-running attractions of Dubai Shopping Festival.
The inauguration ceremony was attended by Ebrahim Saleh, Festivals Coordinator General, Dubai Events and Promotions Establishment (DEPE), Yousuf Al Sahlawi, Senior Executive Director of Corporate Affairs at Dubai Customs and a number of officials at Dubai Customs and DEPE, an agency of the Department of Economic Development and the organisers of DSF, and representatives of the media.
This year, the Carpet Oasis is being held in over 7,000 square metres at Dubai World Trade Centre — Za’abeel Hall 3 and is showcasing over 170,000 handmade carpets. It will run till January 14 and includes an exclusive range of carpets from countries that have thriving carpet weaving industries including Iran, Afghanistan, Turkmenistan and India.
Dubai Customs’ organisation of the Carpet and Arts Oasis is in line with one of its strategic goals related to sustaining economic development. The Carpet and Arts Oasis plays a major role in stimulating the economic and trade movement this time of year and attracts foreign investments from leading handmade carpet manufacturers worldwide. Carpet sales since its inception in 1996 and till last year’s edition have amounted to about Dh1.5 billion. During these 17 years, more than 2 million carpets were exhibited and over 1 million people visited the exhibition.
