Saudi Gazette Report

AMSTERDAM — Saudi Arabia and the Netherlands have signed a number of agreements and memoranda of understanding (MoU) with investments exceeding SR428 million in Amsterdam. The agreements were inked between a number of Saudi and Dutch companies with the aim to develop and localize modern technologies in the environmental, water, and agricultural fields.

Saudi Deputy Minister of Environment, Water, and Agriculture Eng. Mansour Al-Mushaiti attended the ceremony of signing 27 agreements and MoUs during his current visit to the Netherlands from June 10 to 12 in the presence of a number of the Dutch government officials as well as senior executives and business leaders from the public and private sectors.

The signing included a MoU between the Saudi National Program for the Development of the Livestock and Fisheries Sector and the Dutch company VigGuard to establish cooperation to localize livestock disease control research. MoUs were also signed between the National Center for Sustainable Agriculture Research and Development, the Dutch Greenhouse Alliance, the Dutch company Hoogendoorn, Hudson River Biotechnology, and Wageningen University, to launch initiatives in the fields of agricultural technology and research, and to establish capacity-building partnerships in the fields of agricultural innovation, greenhouse farming solutions, and green biotechnology.

The partnerships also included the signing of a MoU between the National Agricultural Services Company and Delphi to support agricultural innovation. MoUs were also signed between the Makkah Region Development Authority, Van der Hoeven Projects for Protected Agriculture and Horticulture, and Horizon 11 to transfer and localize biotechnology.

A MoU was signed between Al-Yasin Agricultural Company and the Cobret Experimental Center to establish a partnership worth up to one million euros to promote biotechnology in control and crop protection. Another MoU was signed between the Saudi Greenhouse Management and Agricultural Marketing Company and Plantae and Certhon with the aim of investing in localizing innovations in the agricultural sector.

A memorandum of understanding was signed between the Lehaa Group of Companies for Trade and Agricultural Investment, the Dutch Royal HZPC Group, and the Gal Sahara Potato Production Company, with investments exceeding SR76 million. This will enhance potato production in the Kingdom, in addition to establishing a French fries factory equipped with the latest processing technologies.

Eng. Mansour Al-Mushaiti also witnessed the signing of six MoUs between Dafa Agricultural Company and a number of companies specialized in the fields of vegetables, fruits, fertilizers, greenhouses, and software project supply, with investments exceeding SR292 million.

It is worth noting that this visit comes within the framework of the plans and vision of the Ministry of Environment, Water, and Agriculture to enhance the global capacity of the Saudi agricultural sector, expand the production and export of local agricultural products, contribute to increasing the volume of trade between the Kingdom and the Netherlands, and strengthen international partnerships, in order to achieve the goals of the Kingdom's Vision 2030.