MEADFA President Haitham Al Majali addressed delegates on the opening day of the MEADFA conference in Muscat, Oman.

The Middle East and Africa Duty Free Association (MEADFA) has provided further information on its new Advocacy Working Group (AWG).

MEADFA first revealed plans to establish the collective during the recent TFWA World Exhibition & Conference.

The integrated, proactive Group will guide the association’s strategy, heighten awareness among key regulators and policy makers, and reinforce its position as a critical regional voice for the industry.

It has been created to promote cross-category advocacy efforts to deliver a unified approach on behalf of Middle East and Africa’s travel retail sector.

STRENGTHENED LOBBYING VOICE

To this end, AWG launched a workshop yesterday (25 November) during the MEADFA Conference in Muscat, Oman (25-26 November) calling for more cross-category representation to support and protect DF&TR in the Middle East and Africa.

“In both Africa and the Middle East, MEADFA anticipates the duty free industry will face greater regulatory challenges across a broad range of categories in 2020,” read a statement. “These challenges are driven in some cases by coordinated global policies, and in others by the emergence of new trends in the regulation for specific products.”

MEADFA recently appointed Board Member and JTI Corporate Affairs & Communications Manager Worldwide Duty Free Rita Chidiac to the post of General Secretary to drive the AWG’s operational and strategic agenda.

TRBusiness Senior Editor Andrew Pentol is in Muscat, Oman for the MEADFA Conference, which takes place at the Kempinski Hotel.

Follow live coverage of the event via Twitter and trbusiness.com. Click here to read highlights from day one.