ECONOMY

Djerad chairs Forum on Investment in Agriculture, Agri-food Industry

ALGIERS-The Forum on Investment in Agriculture and the Agri-food Industry opened Monday at the International Conference Center (CIC) Abdelatif Rahal in Algiers, under the chairmanship of Prime Minister Abdelaziz Djerad.

Shortly before the Forum, Djerad, accompanied by the Minister of Agriculture and Rural Development Abdelhamid Hemdani and Advisor to the President of the Republic Abdelhafid Allahoum, visited an exhibition by farmers and producers working in several fields.

The PM encouraged them to export their products and reassured them of the State's determination to support them.

Organised under the high patronage of the President of the Republic Abdelmadjid Tebboune, the Forum will be inaugurated by Prime Minister Abdelaziz Djerad and will be attended by members of the Government, economic operators and investors, employers' organisations and public and private institutions and bodies.

The meeting is part of the sector's programmes and roadmap for the period 2020-2024 under the 54 commitments made by President of the Republic Abdelmadjid Tebboune, said the source.

The Forum is "an opportunity to present investment opportunities on the one hand, and on the other hand, to allow project holders and potential investors to expose their investment projects in agricultural production and the processing of products, in accordance with the approach developed by the sector to boost structuring investments and develop strategic products including cereals, sugar, oil and fodder," said the source.

The skills of the various sectors concerned and the wealth-creating actors have been mobilized to establish the conditions of complementarity and responsibility, and to involve them in the efforts to improve production and productivity, with an expected medium-term impact on imports and exports.

Moreover, the event is an opportunity to promote and implement investment projects, especially in the South and the High Plateau. Thus, the organizers want to make the Forum an opportunity to inform investors of the existing potential and the facilitation and support measures provided by the various sectors present in the event.

As for the agriculture sector, investments in desert farming will be on the agenda through the Office for the Development of Industrial Agriculture in the Sahara (ODAS), which is an important support mechanism.

It is worth mentioning that the Forum's work will take place in the form of interactive panels on agricultural land, irrigation and energy, financial support and agro-industry. The operators will express their expectations and concerns to which the representatives of various administrations will provide appropriate responses.