The Deputy Minister of Environment, Water and Agriculture, Eng. Mansour Bin Hilal Al-Mushaiti, inaugurated Monday the Middle East Poultry Exhibition, running under the theme "Contribution to Enhancing Food Security", at the Riyadh International Convention and Exhibition Center with the participation of 150 companies from 30 countries. Eng. Al-Mushaiti said the exhibition aims to support trade and scientific exchange between international suppliers and local investors; to benefit from the opportunities provided by the Saudi government, and to help shape the future of production in the poultry industry and its inputs locally, in the Arabian Gulf and regionally. He underlined that the ministry had provided unlimited support to the poultry sector, and had put this in its strategic plan to expand investment operations; increase local production, meet the growing demand, achieve self-sufficiency, increase the volume of the economy in addition to attracting new investors, and create job opportunities for the citizens. He added that the Ministry and the Agricultural Development Fund provide facilities in granting government lands to projects, to raise the self-sufficiency rate of poultry to more than 80% by 2025, in addition to providing funding and support; for the development of the poultry sector, and the expansion of local production, which currently stands at 70%. The Undersecretary of Ministry of Environment, Water and Agriculture for Agricultural Affairs, Eng. Ahmed Bin Saleh Al-Ayada, noted that the total amount of support provided to the poultry sector through the agricultural subsidies program stands at more than SR723 million until February 2021, adding that the ministry seeks, through these subsidies, to strengthen the food security system and support new investments in the Saudi poultry industry per the objectives of Vision 2030. Al-Ayada said the efforts made by the Ministry, based on the directives of the Saudi leadership, focus on finding innovative solutions to regional challenges in poultry production, and meeting the increasing demand, as these efforts resulted in the Kingdom’s annual production reaching more than 1.3 billion birds and 5.4 billion eggs, adding that the annual per capita consumption of poultry in the Kingdom amounts to nearly 50 kilograms. The exhibition is the first and largest of its kind specialized in the poultry sector in the Middle East and comes in conjunction with the Middle East and North Africa Poultry Conference under the slogan "Poultry Production under High Environmental Temperature”. More than 60 international speakers and experts, from more than 11 countries, are participating through the submission of 66 scientific research and workshops. — SPA