KUWAIT: Canon Middle East (CME), a provider of imaging technologies and services, has expanded its partnership with Mohamed Abdulrahman Al-Bahar Group, one of the pioneering trading houses in the Gulf, to provide an ecosystem of innovative business-to-business imaging products and solutions in Kuwait.

The extended partnership, which was announced during a virtual roundtable held in the presence of Anurag Agrawal, Managing Director, Canon Middle East and Canon Turkey, Abdullateef Hamad M A Al-Bahar, Bahar Kuwait Group Holding Family Representative, Shadi Bakhour, B2B Business Unit Director, Canon Middle East, and Ihab Al-Khatib, Group General Manager, Bahar Kuwait Group Holding, addressed the rapidly changing business environment and the accelerated shift toward digital transformation across many public and private entities in Kuwait.

More specifically, the partnership will answer the growing market need for seamless Managed Print Services (MPS), digitization, as well as printing and archiving solutions for public, private, small and medium enterprises across multiple sectors including education, oil and gas, banking, healthcare, manufacturing, telecom and the government. Anurag Agrawal, Managing Director, Canon Middle East and Canon Turkey, said: "Kuwait is an important market for us, and our expanded partnership with Al-Bahar Group brings us closer to our customers in Kuwait and allows us to deliver on their evolving business objectives.

As long-term partners, Canon is supporting the New Kuwait 2035 vision and development goals by providing the necessary digital-first, tech infrastructure for businesses to enhance their operations, provide better services and sustain the evolution of a healthy and competitive market on par with global standards. This partnership underlines our commitment to our corporate philosophy, 'Kyosei' which means living and working together for the common good."

Ihab Al-Khatib, Group General Manager for Bahar Kuwait Group Holding, said "We are very proud to be further associated with Canon Middle East and the Canon respected products here in Kuwait, as this expanded relationship shall bring to our dear customers additional access to a wide variety of print, document and imaging solutions. We are confident that the new technologies and solutions from Canon will enable businesses in Kuwait to be more versatile, efficient, and profitable."

Al-Khatib added," The Canon brand and products enjoy vast demand and admiration in the Kuwaiti market, and expanding our partnership with Canon is a great achievement and a true reflection on the hard work that the Al-Bahar team has done in the past, alongside the team at Canon Middle East to serve our customers in Kuwait. All of us here at Mohamed Abdulrahman Al-Bahar are delighted with the expanded partnership and we are looking forward to continuing to develop this corporation further with Canon Middle East".

Canon and Mohamed Abdulrahman Al-Bahar Group partnership already existed for the wide format print solutions, and with the extended partnership for Canon B2B products, the Al-Bahar Group will offer now Canon's best-in-class enterprise solutions in Kuwait, that will help us with cost optimisation, seamless operations and the transition toward digital tools and services for our customers in this market.

The Group's highly energized and efficient workforce will support Canon's customers with its core business expertise in the printing industry, with a strong emphasis on after-sales operations, and increased customer satisfaction. Kuwait is one of the world's top 10 improvers amongst 190 economies in the World Bank Group's Doing Business 2020 study.

Its ranking jumped from 97 in 2019 to 83 this year, as the Kuwaiti government has ensured implementation of business-friendly rules, regulations, and policies. Canon Middle East firmly believes it can make a positive difference across various industries in Kuwait by supporting the development of Kuwait's business landscape and economic growth objectives, that with our new extended partnership with Mohamed Abdulrahman Al-Bahar.