Bahrain, the kingdom's largest planned luxury residential, commercial and tourist resort development, announced on Monday that it will be exhibiting at the four-day MIPIM 2008. MIPIM is the world's premier real estate summit and is held annually in Cannes, France. It started on Monday (March 11). Last year, the conference attracted more than 26,000 delegates from around the world. More than 6,700 professional real estate investors attended last year's conference, where more than 2,500 companies exhibited and 83 countries were represented. This is the second year that the $6 billion island based lifestyle development has exhibited at MIPIM, following its inaugural exhibition last year, which attracted a huge amount of investor interest. Jassim Al-Jowder, CEO of Durrat Al-Bahrain, said “MIPIM is a key marketing opportunity for Durrat Al-Bahrain. It is without doubt the pre-eminent real estate summit globally and we are hoping to build upon our success of last year, where we saw significant interest in the project as potential investors recognised our ambition and innovation. “This year should be even better, as we expect significant interest from non-GCC investors looking for direct and non-direct exposure to the GCC real estate market. The global shake-out caused by the credit crunch means that non-GCC real estate investors are looking a lot more closely at the growth opportunities offered by the region, and Durrat Al-Bahrain offers an attractive investment opportunity to commercial developers and institutional investors. The project offers a broad mix of investment potential across residential and commercial land and property, with different types of potential return, all based on the unique principle of an island-based resort city located in the beautiful waters of southern Bahrain.” Set in the azure waters of south Bahrain, the 21-km development will offer The Islands, designed into two circular rows of six atolls and five petals, are 11 islands of 1,800 luxury residential villas, gardens and beaches in an enchanting setting offering a sanctuary of peace and tranquility. __
