Arab News | 29.12.2013
Portal to facilitate investments in agriculture abroad
Agriculture Minister Fahd Balghunaim will inaugurate Sunday a portal for the King Abdullah Initiative for Agricultural Investment Abroad.
Officials of the partners in the investment initiative such as the Agricultural Development Fund and the Saudi Agricultural Investment Co. will also be present on the occasion.
"The website will serve as a link between agricultural investors abroad on the one hand and the Saudi Agriculture Ministry and the partners in the initiative on the other," director of the office of the initiative Saad Khalil said in a statement to the Saudi Press Agency.
The website's distinctive service will be to provide investment forms which can be filled online.
The website will also explain to investors essential information about the investment atmosphere and the rules and regulations in the countries where investments are planned.
Moreover, the website will list the basic agricultural products to be cultivated in each country as part of the food security program in addition to the links that would supply useful information to investors, he said.
The opening of the website is expected to activate the investment initiative abroad which aims to help ensure national, regional and global food security in the future.
"The initiative put forward by King Abdullah to support foreign agricultural growth will aid global food security," Deputy Minister for Agriculture Khaled Al-Fuhaid said in a statement last month.
"We in Saudi Arabia are cooperating with the Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) of the United Nations for the benefit of the country, and in line with the resources available to us," Al-Fuhaid said.
The Kingdom is seeking to sign framework agreements with the states targeted for the investment of food safety and to protect these investments from the negative impact of political instability, civil wars, unrest and strikes, an official said.
Experts agree that the project will help secure greater international food security and appreciate Saudi Arabia's plans to invest in 35 countries across the world.
