Organised by the DLG (German Agricultural Society) and its local partners, the Abu Dhabi Agriculture and Food Safety Authority (ADAFSA) and Multibridge Event Management, the new event confirmed the United Arab Emirates (UAE) role as a leading driving force in developing the livestock sector across the Middle East and North Africa (MENA).
Next to exhibitors offering innovative technologies and solutions for animal husbandry farmers in the region, EuroTier Middle East tailored a comprehensive technical conference & forum program to regional topics and introduced region-specific feature events like the animal show that featured over 6,500 animals and drew the participation of 175 breeders.
Held under the patronage of His Highness Sheikh Mansour bin Zayed Al Nahyan, Deputy Prime Minister, Minister of Presidential Affairs and Chairman of the Abu Dhabi Agriculture and Food Safety Authority (ADAFSA), the Director General of ADAFSA, Saeed Al Bahri Salem Al Ameri stated: "We are delighted with the high turnout and strong visitor response to the inaugural edition of EuroTier Middle East. It demonstrates the growing importance of the livestock sector across the region as well as Abu Dhabi's huge potential within this vital sector. Through fostering partnerships and facilitating business deals among participating entities, the event has laid a solid foundation for the long-term development of the livestock sector in the UAE."
He added: "Hosting this exhibition articulates our commitment to supporting the government's efforts to achieve sustainability in the animal husbandry sector through dedicating a comprehensive platform to all stakeholders in this vital field. Our objectives in organising the event included meeting the country's food demand, supplying the local market with quality products and facilitating exporter access to foreign markets.”
The event drew the participation of over 120 exhibitors and 150 companies from 16 countries, including Saudi Arabia, the country of honour at EuroTier Middle East 2019. It also attracted 10,892 visitors over three days.
Dr Thani Bin Ahmed Al Zeyoudi, Minister of Climate Change and Environment, Mariam Bint Mohammed Saeed Hareb Al Mehairi, Minister of State for Food Security, Dr Mugheer Khamis Al Khaili, Chairman of the Department of Community Development and Board Member of ADAFSA and other senior officials and VIPs attended the opening of the event on Monday.
Dr Al Zeyoudi noted that hosting EuroTier Middle East in Abu Dhabi reinforces the importance of the livestock sector in the UAE and the wider region.
“The results support our belief that the environment for livestock farming in the region would make EuroTier Middle East the perfect platform to pull the livestock sector together and point the way for its development in the future,” said Jens Kremer, Deputy Managing Director & Director Business Development at DLG. “Visitors to the event, who had the opportunity to speak to leading exhibitors in this sector and to take part in the comprehensive technical program are returning to their businesses with fresh ideas that will invigorate agriculture throughout this region,” added Kremer.
On the sidelines of the event, numerous lucrative partnerships were forged with ADAFSA and companies such as Host Sponsor of EuroTier Middle East 2019 Marmum Dairy, Al Rawabi Dairy Company, Essa Al-Ghurair Investment all signing letters of intent related to investment opportunities in the agricultural and food sector.
The host sponsor, Marmum Dairy Farm LLC., stated that EuroTier Middle East presents the ideal platform to meet all their key suppliers in one-condensed area. “We get to meet everyone we need to speak to about new innovations in the industry for the year”, stated Jeremiah Henchy, General Manager. “For us EuroTier Middle East is the perfect location for our regional planning on commodity prices and to exchange information about the business in the neighboring countries,” Henchy concluded.
In addition to the DLG Forum providing visitors and exhibitors a variety of informative presentations during all three days of EuroTier Middle East 2019, from topics ranging to cattle and poultry production, camel genetics, aquaculture, biosecurity and many more, the second day of the trade fair kicked off with two international conferences on the topics of dairy production in arid climates and livestock production in the U.A.E. The conferences, organized in partnership with ADAFSA and the International Livestock Research Institute (ILRI) Kenya, along with the DLG Forum brought renowned experts across all segments of the animal production sector from different parts of the world under one roof to discuss and deliberate on key themes and challenges currently facing the industry.
As the first edition of EuroTier Middle East came to an end, the organizers announced a further development in their relationship that will see the DLG and ADAFSA working together to establish a demonstration farm in the region. Likely to begin in 2020, this new resource for the livestock sector in the Middle East will allow new farming concepts to be put to the test in a practical way that can educate and inform farmers and assist them in their future investment decisions. The outcomes from this initiative and forged partnerships will be presented at the 2nd edition of EuroTier Middle East scheduled for March 2021.
