Under the guidance of His Highness Sheikh Mansour bin Zayed Al Nahyan, Deputy Prime Minister, Minister of Presidential Affairs and Chairman of the Abu Dhabi Food Control Authority (ADFCA), His Excellency Saeed Al Bahri Salem Al Ameri, Director-General of ADFCA, has announced, on Wednesday, that Abu Dhabi will host Euro Tier Fair 2019. This came in a press conference held in Hanover, Germany, on the sidelines of EuroTier Fair, world's leading trade fair for animal production and Health, which continues to November 16. In cooperation with Abu Dhabi National Exhibition Center (ADNEC), the move is part of ADFCA's efforts to organize exhibitions aimed at keeping pace with the growth of business tourism in the country, enhancing the livestock and biosecurity sector in Abu Dhabi Emirate and the region, and promoting food security and investment opportunities in this sector while preserving ecosystems and natural resources.

During the press conference, H.E. Al Ameri said: "The livestock sector in the UAE has attracted considerable attention from the wise leadership of His Highness Sheikh Khalifa bin Zayed Al Nahyan, President of the UAE. This support is reflected in encouraging farmers to breed and farm animals, supporting animals-related sectors by offering the needed infrastructure and health care for livestock, providing their breeders with feed, encouraging them to breed economic species, and offering various services and activities to this sector, including veterinary, nutrition and extension care."

He noted that holding EuroTier Middle East 2019 in Abu Dhabi is an exceptional event, as it will be the first time for EuroTier to hold its world class fair outside of Europe, which is a natural response to the increasing livestock industry market demand in the MENA region.

"The fair is playing a key role in improving production means and encouraging animal production's workers to adopt techniques that have greater ability to enhance productivity and increase the efficiency of manufacturing and supply operations. It is of great importance in building broad partnerships among the world's nations in areas of agricultural investment and exchanging experiences and knowledge among animal breeders, to overcome the most important challenges facing the livestock sector," Al Ameri added.

"The authority sought in coordination with ADNEC to prepare for hosting the fair in Emirate of Abu Dhabi. We recognize the high momentum coming from the Middle East and North Africa, and the importance of the livestock industry in the region. According to recent reports, MENA has the fastest and highest meat market growth rate of any region in the world at almost 30%. We will work, in ADFCA, on making use of this growth by enhancing the sustainable and commercial development of the meat market in EuroTier Middle East 2019. The authority will host experts and those interest in agriculture from all over the world, to bring the expertise and skills of farmers in Europe to MENA region, to benefit from their experiences in overcoming the challenges facing this sector's development," Al Ameri clarified.

Al Ameri stressed that livestock sector is the cornerstone of the global food security system. He that the fair has succeeded, over the past 43 years, in narrowing the gap between the growing supply and demand for food as a result of the steady increase in the world population, by building board networks bringing together experts to find promising and significant opportunities to increase livestock production, meet its needs, and bring its latest innovations and techniques to the region. Moreover, he indicated ADFCA drive to lead in the digital transformation use towards better animal production management.

For his part, Humaid Matar Al Dhaheri, Group CEO of ADNEC said: "We are pleased to partner with the Abu Dhabi Food Control Authority to host the 'EuroTier Exhibition,' an important event that falls in line with our mission of attracting leading international exhibitions to Abu Dhabi, by entering into strategic collaborations with event organizers and representatives of global federations to strengthen its position as the capital for business tourism."

He added: "ADNEC has a team led by exceptional national talent and competencies with a range of proven skills, who cooperate with our partners in the private and public sectors to ensure the success of this event and consolidate Abu Dhabi's growing reputation at the regional and global level. ADNEC will also initiate a promotional campaign for this event through various conferences and events hosted at its venues, in addition to an external marketing campaign for Abu Dhabi and all the events that the company hosts."

For his side, H.E. Ali Abdullah Al-Ahmad, UAE Ambassador to the Federal Republic of Germany, affirmed that this achievement comes within the close ties between the two friendly countries. Hosting the fair in Abu Dhabi reflects the two sides' keenness to enhance cooperation and exchange experiences in various fields, to achieve sustainable development and economic prosperity in many sectors of mutual interest.

Al-Ahmad praised the efforts exerted by ADFCA in cooperation with ADNEC, which resulted in bringing this important event to be held in the Emirate of Abu Dhabi, making the UAE as the first country initiated to host the fair in MENA region.

Hosting this important event by Abu Dhabi reflects its success in building a strong and sustainable food sector, and developing its agriculture sector, overcoming many environmental and climate challenges imposed by the region geographical nature. Now, there are over 25,000 animal holdings and 3.5 million head of food-producing animals in Abu Dhabi Emirate. Furthermore, there are commercial farms for livestock production and factories for food industries and re-exportation, which promotes investing in this sector in light of the business tourism boom experienced by the UAE and the existence of an advanced legislative umbrella to encourage investment and business growth