His Highness Shaikh Mansour Bin Zayed Al Nahyan, Deputy Prime Minister, Minister for Presidential Affairs and Chairman of Abu Dhabi Food Control Authority has attended the Annual Forum which coincides the tenth anniversary of the food control body.

His Highness Shaikh Mansour has also honored a number of former board members as well as employees who entitled for this year's Al Nammoos Excellence Awards during the program which held at St.Regis Al Sadiyat

H.E. Rashid Mohammed Al Shariqi, Director General of ADFCA while delivering the introductory speech said:-"ADFCA has travelled long, traversing several stages of development and self-evolving phases before it reached the current position, a leading Abu Dhabi government entity having its impacts on national and international arena in the field of food safety, livestock and agriculture. It has recorded many an important achievement and has set milestones in its journey towards developing a sustainable food sector and attaining food security. All these achievements can be attributed to the visionary leadership of His Highness Shaikh Mansour and his seamless support towards all that ADFCA came up with in past years. The advice and support given by the dignitaries who adored the current and former ADFCA board, have substantially helped the authority pass successfully through the stages of development during the past decade"

He pointed that ever since the inception of ADFCA on 5th March 2005 -by a decree issued by H. H. Shaikh Khalifa Bin Zayed Al Nahyan in his capacity as the ruler of Abu Dhabi emirate- it has come up with a number of projects and has implemented several systems and legislations which later had enormous impact on the food safety sector as well as on agriculture and livestock sectors after the both were added to the jurisdiction of ADFCA, in the year 2007.

His Excellency elaborated: "ADFCA has played a pivotal role in the food sector of Abu Dhabi ever since it launched its first Strategic Plan. The 2008 Food law, The Risk-Based Imported Food Control System implemented at the boarders, international accreditation for laboratories, 17020:2012 ISO accreditation by United Kingdom Accreditation Service (UKAS) being the first agency in the region entitled with power for accreditation service for control activities, Salamat Zadna Initiative and the publication of Food Atlas come as clear testimonials for ADFCA's unparalleled contribution in the development of Abu Dhabi food sector"

"When it comes to the agricultural sector, the establishment of Farmers' Service Center in 2009 tops the list of ADFCA's achievements. The sustainability-based farmers' subsidy scheme, agricultural census project and securing Global GAP certificate for 110 farmers in Abu Dhabi helped the sector to be in line with the latest advancements witnessed on the global arena. Other initiatives such as Comprehensive Date Palm Weevil Control Project, Study on Pesticide Remnants in Local Produce, Organic Fertilizers Subsidy Scheme, Study on Water Rations for Different Crops and development of Agricultural Guidance & Procedure could really establish the position of ADFCA as a promising government body in the region supervising over agricultural sector" he added.

He said the Animal Identification & Registration program implemented by ADFCA which won the best government online service in the Middle East increased the credentials of the authority in the area of livestock. He added, the program literarily became a practical example on how a government entity could utilize latest advancement in the technology to transform government services to unprecedented easiness ensuring optimum level of customer satisfaction.

He also mentioned the Fodder Subsidy Scheme as well as Local Human Resource Development Program in the field of veterinary science which ADFCA implemented collaborating with several other government entities such as Ministry of Presidential Affairs, Ministry of Environment & Water and UAE University, in the list of remarkable achievements in the livestock sector

H. E. Rashid Shariqi, further elaborating ADFCA's endeavors that contributed in escalating the position of ADFCA in the global scene, gave a special reference to SIAL Middle East Exhibition which is set to kick off in Abu Dhabi for the sixth year under the supervision of ADFCA. He also talked about GFIA- Global Forum for Innovation in Agriculture, an international event to celebrate innovation in the area of agriculture.

"SIAL Middle East is a notable project which connected us with the entire world of food & agriculture. Through the past five years, we could mark Abu Dhabi in the map of global food trade and established its strategic position as one of the international destination of businesses around the world. It set its successful journey with GCC Ministerial Forum on Food Policies, the main feature of the first SIAL in which the historic 'Abu Dhabi Food Security Declaration' was made and has now reached to its sixth version, attracting a wide audience who are going to shape the future food" he said.

He said, ADFCA is proud to have introduced Emirati dates and palm to a global trade community through SIAL annual exhibitions which subsequently made UAE dates win the title of bestselling food product in the SIAL exhibition held in Shanghai.

He said Global Forum For Innovation In Agriculture, GFIA comes in line with the aspirations of the wise leadership of UAE which always seek for innovation in all aspects of life.

He recalled that the second version of the international forum became historic with a special session which hosted 300 notable scientists from across the world who held the expertise and knowledge that could bring radical change in the way world practices agriculture.

Al Shariqi thanked each and every employee of ADFCA for being instrumental in the success of the organization.  He praised the enormous efforts exerted by the employees in the task to transform the emirate a piece of land where people find comfort and safety in their food, animals and produce.

He also thanked ADFCA's strategic partners including government entities and private sector firms for creating and maintaining fruitful partnerships and collaborations which substantially contributed in developing all three sectors falling under ADFCA scope of work. 

It is noted that, in the past ten years, Abu Dhabi Food Control Authority had a number of national, regional and international recognitions and awards which added feathers to its crown of glory. Arabian Technology Award 2010 (Best Performance & Procedure Management), Internal Ministry Award 2011 (Ideal Partner), first place in Khalifa International Date Palm Award (Best Research) Stevie Foundation Business Awards (Two awards), Palladium Award (Best Strategy Execution) are a few among them.