Saudi Arabia seeks to provide integrated infrastructure to boost investment in fisheries: Minister

Abdulrahman Al-Fadley, Minister of Environment, Water and Agriculture

Saudi Arabia is working with major companies to provide an integrated infrastructure in the fisheries sector to boost production as well as marketing opportunities, said Abdulrahman Al-Fadley, Minister of Environment, Water and Agriculture in a statement.

This will accordingly help increase investments in the sector, he added.

Al-Fadley, who also heads the National Fisheries Development Program, indicated that the Kingdom faces challenges via tailoring thoroughly-studied solutions and improving the related practices. The Kingdom also maps out incentive packages for the sector, facilitates the related measures, provides the required land plots and drafts the necessary regulations.

The Kingdom’s increasing growth of population and the harmful practices to the marine environment, which directly weigh on the fisheries and the aquatic life, are factors that urge the state to develop the fish farming industry to fulfill the food security, said Al-Fadley.

The Kingdom’s direct spending the sector amounts to around SAR 1 billion distributed among infrastructure, research and localization, since the sector is of a major significance in increasing exports and the gross domestic product (GDP).

The minister’s statements came on the sidelines of the Saudi international Marine and Exhibition Conference (SIMEC).