8 September 2015, Dubai: Fleming Gulf's third edition of the Procurement Strategy Summit kicked off today at the Dusit Thani Hotel in Dubai, U.A.E. The first day of the summit opened with the remarks from the conference Chairman Artur Osipyan, Senior Contracts Specialist of Occidental Petroleum of Qatar Ltd. Osipyan also spoke on how to define and implement a true category management model.

Articulating on shifting the role of procurement and assessing its vulnerabilities and risks in a global market, the keynote address was spearheaded by Ferhan Alemdaroglu, the Procurement Director of Unilever. Followed by Alemdaroglu, Jason Brown of National Bank of Abu Dhabi shed light on the opportunities of procurement at the time of dollar devaluation and how to collaborate with the finance team in a volatile business economy.

The conference witnessed an international keynote address on smart sourcing as a business value enabler by Simona Pavelescu representing The Ericsson Sourcing Board, Romania. With Dubai Expo 2020 coming up, Mr. Bhanu Pratap Singh of Atlantis, the Palm, intensified on the challenges of procurement, ensuring compliance to specific country laws. Juergen Schmiezek representing the Gold Sponsor, Synertrade, showcased procurement software suite as the premium intelligent suite in the software market.

Other sessions were led by Mr. Hariharan Laxminarayan of Emirates Global Aluminum on how one can achieve operational excellence and self growth, followed by Mr. Raman Nathani of Farah Leisure Parks Management LLC. addressing the KPI's in Procurement, drawing attention towards reframing procurement strategies.

One key discussion for the day was a a panel meeting on tips of how one can improve supplier relationship. Round Table Discussion that saw all the attendees taking part in discussions highlighting on moving to saving culture and how to leverage procurement for strategic goal achievement.

The second day will see the presence of esteemed dignitaries from leading organizations such as Future Purchasing, Ooredoo Group, Abu Dhabi Tourism & Culture Authority and CIPS MENA. They will address sessions related to category management, how e-solutions can bridge the gap between upstream and downstream organization and the procuring legacy to create sustainable value.

Another key highlight would be the panel debate on procure to pay process for audit efficiency. The event will be concluded by an interactive round table discussion covering the fraud practices in procurement. The event saw support from leading trade bodies CIPS MENA, PASIA and LSCMS. In addition, the event was sponsored by Synertrade, Pool4Tool, Bureau Van Dijk, PAGERO and Future Purchasing.