DUBAI (AME Info) – Port developments in Iran will be described by Dr Taheri, Iran's Deputy Minister of Roads and Transportation and Managing Director of the Ports and Shipping Organisation at the MEED’s Middle East Port Development conference, which will be held at the Al Murooj Rotana Hotel in Dubai from 5-6 February.

Other speakers will cover port developments in Fujairah, Bahrain, Kuwait and Jordan.

Investment in Middle East port expansions would exceed $5 billion in the next 20 years.

More than 100 industry experts are expected to attend the event, which will be addressed by leading figures from the Middle East ports and shipping industry.

They include Abu Dhabi Ports Company managing director Ahmed Saeed Al Calily and DP World deputy commercial director Abdullah Bin Damithan. Both agencies are massively increasing their capacity to capture the surging volumes of goods flowing into and out of the Persian Gulf region.

The opening keynote address will be delivered by Poul Woodall, Middle East Area Line and Operations Manager for Maersk of Denmark and Ong Tuen Suan, Regional Vice President for APL EMIRATES LLC.

The conference will also examine a range of issues associated with port developments including dredging, the environment, efficient port management, finance and security. 'There is a shipping boom in the Middle East and the region's ports have to keep pace,' says MEED Editorial Director Edmund O'Sullivan who is moderating the Middle East Port's Development conference.

“This conference will take stock of what is happening and will lay the foundations for the right strategies the transport industry of the region and the world will need to pursue in future.”