Riyadh-Agencies
The Arab Authority for Agricultural Investment and Development announced during the Arab Private Sector Forum, which was launched last week in Riyadh, the establishment of the Arab Holding Company for Agricultural Investment in Saudi Arabia. This project aims to establish a major leading company in the fields of agricultural production and processing to produce wheat, barley, potatoes, rice, corn, soy and alfalfa for the purpose of securing food in the Middle East and North Africa region and bridging the food gap.

Company Projects and Investments
The company's projects and investments will be distributed according to the comparative advantages of each Arab country through the formation of investment portfolios and partnerships with strategic investors.
Experts and specialists in the agricultural and livestock fields also discussed through the forum an initiative to improve and raise the productivity of wheat in the Arab countries, benefit from animal and domestic waste and encourage optimal fodder investment of agricultural waste, in order to cover the needs of the Arab countries and stabilize prices in these areas in the markets of the region. This initiative is represented by the presentation of three projects by the Arab Center for the Studies of Arid Zones and Dry Lands (ACSAD) on the table of the forum, where the first project aims to disseminate and localize improved varieties of wheat approved in several Arab countries with high production and technological specifications, wide environmental adaptation and high tolerance to various stresses. The second project aims to use biogas technologies to convert animal and household waste into useful products that help increase agricultural productivity, save energy, improve the environment and raise the standard of living of rural families. The third project aims to secure additional low-cost feed resources while reducing environmental pollution, and to transfer and localize technologies to improve the nutritional value of agricultural and industrial wastes to Arab countries and make optimal use of them to bridge the feed gap.
It is worth mentioning that the forum is organized by the Council of Saudi Chambers in cooperation with the General Union of Arab Chambers of Commerce, Industry and Agriculture and the General Secretariat of the League of Arab States. Arab Food Security
The forum aims to achieve food security for the peoples of the region, take advantage of natural and water resources and invest opportunities in the agricultural and livestock fields, where 23 initiatives were put forward to establish investment projects in a number of Arab countries in various economic fields.
Saudi Arabia and Kuwait in the lead
Finance Minister Dr. Ibrahim Al-Assaf explained during a press statement following the launch of the Arab Private Sector Forum that the fund to support small enterprises approved in Kuwait has started, and that Saudi Arabia and Kuwait are the two largest countries participating in the account with each contributing 500 million dollars, in addition to contributions from other Arab countries with less than 400 million dollars, adding that the program has started giving loans to all Arab countries that have projects related to small enterprises.

With regard to the food gap in the Arab world, Dr. Al-Assaf hoped that the duration would not be large, calling on Arab countries that have agricultural potential to remove obstacles and adopt policies and incentives for Arab investment, pointing out that there is Arab investment capital that wants to invest in the agricultural sector but unfortunately faces obstacles in some countries.

The Minister of Finance stressed that the program has started giving loans to all Arab countries with projects related to small enterprises. <The Minister of Finance stressed that the issue of transportation between Arab countries is still an issue, and that the ministers of transportation in the Arab countries are looking into these aspects, as there is a bilateral agreement between countries such as Saudi Arabia and some neighboring countries, hoping that these obstacles will be removed.
Trade barriers
Al-Assaf said: «The obstacles are great in front of trade exchange, as there are trucks and goods delayed for days between Arab countries, which is one of the most important obstacles in trade exchange, and I hope that the Arab countries will take the same steps taken by the GCC countries,« he said, pointing to little growth in terms of intra-trade aspects except for the GCC countries due to the measures taken by them that reach trade growth to 20% annually, and the GCC countries have become one of the largest trading partners among them.

He noted the existence of joint Arab institutions that support the private sector, including the Arab Investment Company, the Arab Livestock Development Company, the Arab Authority for Agricultural Investment and other joint companies, as well as financial institutions such as the Arab Fund for Economic and Social Development, all of which directly and indirectly support the private sector. Arab Private Forum
The Arab Private Sector Forum was launched last Saturday in Riyadh under the patronage of His Royal Highness Prince Saud Al-Faisal, Minister of Foreign Affairs, organized by the Council of Saudi Chambers in cooperation with the General Union of Chambers of Commerce, Industry and Agriculture of the Arab Countries and the General Secretariat of the League of Arab States at the Ritz-Carlton Hotel in Riyadh and will last for two days. His Excellency the Minister of Finance Dr. Ibrahim bin Abdulaziz Al-Assaf said in his speech to the forum that the private sector is the main engine of growth and economic activity, providing job opportunities and employment and thus raising the level of employment in the economy, pointing out that the private sector in many international groupings achieved qualitative leaps that led to an increase in the volume of intra-trade between those parties and increased mutual investment flows between them.

He added that looking at our Arab region, with the exception of the Gulf Cooperation Council countries, we do not observe such trends and do not see tangible growth in the volume of intra-Arab trade and intra-Arab investment flows, which requires reviewing the steps and policies that have been taken in order to increase the level of intra-Arab trade exchange and examine the obstacles that prevented the development of intra-Arab trade movement.

The Minister of Finance believes that the obstacles that contributed to the delay in completing the requirements of the Arab Free Trade Area are the lack of access to detailed rules of origin for all goods exchanged within the framework of the region, the lack of commitment by some countries to prevent the established exemptions and some non-tariff barriers such as duties and taxes with similar effect to customs duties, indicating that there are other obstacles, including similar production structures, partial dependence on the export of raw materials and semi-finished products and the lack of high-tech industries.
Meeting the needs of peoples
For his part, H.E. Adnan Al-Qassar, President of the General Federation of Chambers of Commerce, Industry and Agriculture of the Arab Countries, explained during his speech that the private sector looks forward to the forum to activate the desired role of the next economic summit, especially since the idea of holding it was launched from the Arab Summit held in Riyadh in 2007.
He said that the third forum coincides with the Arab Economic Summit and works to crystallize the aspirations of the Arab private sector to Their Majesties, Highnesses and Heads of Arab States at their next summit in Riyadh and formulate its vision and message to it, pointing out that the current stage requires courage to meet the needs of the peoples and the active participation of the private sector in Arab economic integration and development issues as those issues represent challenges for governments and the private sector alike and require collective action to face them.

Saudi Chambers
For his part, the President of the Council of Saudi Chambers, Engineer Abdullah Al-Mabati, said that the forum aims to highlight the initiatives of the Arab private sector on development and economic integration in the Arab countries to crystallize them and put them on the table at the next Arab Economic and Development Summit.

He added: «The convening of the important forum came at a time when many constants have changed in the region and the world and at a time when the global economy is still interacting with crises whose impact and repercussions have affected most countries of the world, including the Arab countries, all of which are variables that require us to strengthen cohesion and cooperation among us to face these variables in all respects, expressing his optimism that these crises and changes will contribute to encouraging the reorganization and improvement of economic and social conditions in the Arab region, which is one of the important and promising regions from all economic, financial and human aspects because of its characteristic economic, financial and human resources.