Damascus-SANA
The discussions of the Food Industries Forum and Obstacles to its Growth, which was held this evening in the Exhibition City within the activities of the Food and Packaging Industries Exhibition “Food Expo 2021”, focused on the challenges, obstacles and ways to overcome the food industry sector, in addition to the opportunities available to develop this sector and enhance the competitiveness of its products.
The industrialists participating in the forum presented a number of demands related to the continuation of their facilities in production and marketing locally and abroad, the investment opportunities available in this sector, the incentives included in the new investment law and the facilities included in trade exchange agreements with friendly countries, activating the principle of bartering goods with other countries, encouraging exports, supporting foreign exhibitions, and supporting Shipping exports, taking into account the conditions surrounding food establishments when imposing a tax and losing part of machines, offering exemptions on all raw materials included in the food industry, proposing the principle of participatory economic decision-making and adopting laboratories in Syria.
Minister of Industry Ziad Sobhi Sabbagh stressed the importance of advancing the reality of the food industries in joint cooperation between government agencies, industrialists and chambers to solve many problems through consensus among industrialists on proposals in order to work on solving them in joint cooperation within a unified vision and access to participatory decision-making between government agencies, industrialists and investors in way to achieve the desired goals.
For his part, Minister of Economy and Foreign Trade, Dr. Muhammad Samer Al-Khalil stressed that the government considers the food industry a strategic sector, because it transforms agricultural products into industrial ones and makes us need to import similar products, pointing to what the government has done by encouraging and protecting this sector, providing the necessary facilities for its growth and development, and providing exemptions. To import raw materials, support its exports, ease obstacles and difficulties, and reduce interest on loans through the import substitution program.
For his part, the Minister of Agriculture, Eng. Hassan Qatna, pointed out that the agricultural sector, which is the source of raw materials for the food industry sector, works in harsh conditions in all respects and at very high production costs in addition to natural problems, which requires integration between the different sectors and the securing of agricultural production requirements for the adequacy of the local market of agricultural products for local consumption, processing and export.
For his part, a member of the board of directors of the Damascus and Rural Chamber of Industry and head of the food sector in the chamber, Talal Qalaji, stressed the importance of working with the government to overcome the obstacles facing the food industry sector, especially with regard to providing energy and electricity carriers at official prices in order to raise the competitiveness of food products and support the export process and foreign exhibitions. Increasing its area to increase the penetration of Syrian food products to foreign markets, which currently reach the markets of more than a hundred countries.
The head of the Jordan Chamber of Commerce, Nael Kabariti, considered that the Syrian product, despite all the circumstances that Syria is going through, is still distinguished, pointing out that this product needs a commercial brand in foreign markets, with an emphasis on obtaining internationally approved quality certificates in order to facilitate its entry into new markets and support its competitiveness. in foreign markets.
In turn, CEO of the Delta Group for international exhibitions and conferences organizing the forum, Ghiath Shammaa, pointed out the importance of the discussions that took place in the forum between industrialists and ministers in terms of securing production requirements and available drainage channels locally and abroad and what is required to create a competitive agricultural food industrial product and reduce the import of raw materials and benefit from Local inputs and the provision of foreign exchange, explaining that everyone agreed to form a committee from the Chambers of Industry, Commerce and Agriculture to discuss the problems that were raised during the forum with the ministers and find solutions to them in order to promote food industries.
Ahmed Souliman