JEDDAH: An SR3 billion public holding company will be established with the participation of private investors to carry out overseas agricultural projects, Agriculture Minister Fahd Balghunaim announced yesterday.
Speaking to reporters after opening Saudi Agriculture 2008 exhibition in Riyadh, he said the new company was awaiting Cabinet approval to start its activities. “It will be a fully government-owned company and other investors can participate in it to implement productive projects in different countries,” the Saudi Press Agency quoted the minister as saying.
He also emphasized the government’s plan to establish strategic storages for foodstuff. The Cabinet has instructed four ministries to prepare a plan to build such storage facilities and how to manage them.
The new company will focus on crops that either cannot be grown in the Kingdom such as rice and sugar, or need plenty of water supplies such as wheat, barley and animal fodder, the minister said. The government said in May it would swiftly provide land for stockpiling basic staples and would increase global investments to ensure long-term food security.
The Cabinet had asked the ministries of agriculture and commerce and industry to present a report after conducting a survey on investment opportunities in agriculture, cattle and fisheries in other countries.