A new joint venture based in Dubai aims to capture exponential growth opportunities for its combined portfolio of market-leading business events. Dubai World Trade Centre and Informa Group today announced a strategic venture to create a truly global powerhouse in the exhibitions and events business, operating across the Middle East, South Asia and Africa regions, reported by Emirates 24|7.
This partnership between two commercial equals with highly interconnected assets and capabilities will see the creation of a new DWTC-Informa company – Informa International – which will be fully operational by Q4 2025. Headquartered in Dubai, the new entity will serve the super-regional MICE (meetings, incentives, conferences and exhibitions) markets and leverage its scale to export its homegrown mega brands globally.
Global MICE Network
The move reaffirms DWTC’s commitment to triple the contribution of the MICE sector to Dubai’s GDP to AED 54 billion annually by 2033, in line with the objectives of Dubai Economic Agenda D33 – attracting investment and facilitating cross-border trade through authoritative B2B Events platforms. It will also focus on strengthening Dubai as a global epicentre for business and entrepreneurship, even as the city gains a reputation as the world’s favourite MICE hub.
Informa International will include exhibitions, conferences, meetings, professional training and business accreditations from both DWTC and Informa in Dubai and related partner markets, creating a market leader with revenues in excess of US$700 million. The partnership has the potential to achieve double-digit growth as it expands beyond Dubai and the Middle East to emerging global markets.
Informa International’s Strategic Objectives
Global MICE Powerhouse: Combines DWTC’s global events with Informa Group’s events in the UAE and associated partner markets – to own and operate over 40 leading brands in attractive, growing categories such as food (Gulfood), ICT (GITEX), information security (GISEC), healthcare (WHX), energy (Middle East Energy) and aviation (Dubai). Accelerated global expansion creates additional scale and the ability to export DWTC brands to the fastest growing markets for B2B events, including the Indian subcontinent, Asia, the Middle East, Europe and Africa.
Dubai, as the No. 1 global business hub, aims to attract major events to Dubai from over 100 specialist global Informa brands across a range of sectors. This fits into the city’s economic strategy, with significant infrastructure coming online at the Dubai Exhibition Centre (DEC) from 2026.
This strategic partnership is set to drive the transformation of cross-border trade and entrepreneurship, jointly creating sustainable value for the industries and economies served by B2B Events. DWTC has built a portfolio of flagship B2B event brands, and Informa is the ideal partner to combine strengths and take the next stage of growth in this highly influential sector.