Saudi-British cooperation in the field of agriculture went into high gear with the participation of a 24-member delegation headed by Mohammad Al-Sheiha, deputy minister of agriculture for animal resources at the Royal Show that concluded last week in Kenilworth near Coventry. "This was the 4th consecutive year that a commercial delegation and an official delegation from Saudi Arabia visited the show and the second year that a Saudi commercial pavilion exhibited the best of Saudi agricultural produce to explore new export markets in the UK and the EU states," Mansour Taqi-eddin from the British Embassy in Riyadh told Arab News yesterday. He said that the British Secretary of State Margaret Beckett welcomed Al-Sheiha and his team when she met the international delegations during a luncheon at the Royal Show. The Saudi delegation held meetings with officials from the UK's Department of Environment, Food and Rural Affairs and livestock specialists from British Meat and Livestock Export Commission. They also met representatives leading genetics institutes of the UK including the world famous Roslin Institute, leading center for research on farm and other animals. The Saudi delegation included 13 officials from the ministry and 11 from companies representing a cross section of the Saudi agricultural industry. Several large UK companies have established their presence in the Saudi market, and Saudi produce such as cherries, tomatoes, lettuce, grapes and dates are exported to the UK market regularly. A presentation on Saudi Arabian agriculture was held at the show where Carma Elliot, UK's director of trade and investment at the British Consulate in Jeddah, said Saudi Arabia's imports from the UK amounted to about 1.62 billion pounds in 2004. While outlining the Kingdom's progress in the agricultural field, Mohammad Al-Rasheed of Saudi Green Houses Management & Agriculture Marketing pointed out that the agricultural sector contributes to about $ 9.7 billion to the Kingdom's GDP. "Saudi Arabia is self sufficient in several products including wheat and milk and that agricultural produce is regularly exported to European markets, including UK supermarkets," Rasheed added.
