The Minister of Agriculture of the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia will visit Hungary in the near future – this was one of the agreements concluded between Endre Kardeván and Dr. Fahd Bin Abdulrahman Balghunaimmal during their meeting in Riyadh. At another important meeting, the State Secretary for Food Chain Control Supervision of the Ministry of Rural Development discussed what criteria Hungarian business must meet in order to export their food products to Saudi Arabia.

During the course of the official visit, State Secretary for Food Chain Control Supervision of the Ministry of Rural Development Dr. Endre Kardeván met Minister for Agriculture Dr. Fahd Bin Abdulrahman Balghunaim in his Riyadh office on February 18, 2012.

The meeting may be considered a milestone in Hungarian-Saudi relations, as this is the first time that such high-level talks have been organised between the two Ministries. Minister Balghunaim and his entourage listened with great interest to the various presentations on the state of the Hungarian agriculture and its food industry, and on opportunities for investment in Hungary. A delegation of businessmen also accompanies the State Secretary on his three-day official visit to the country.

The Minister expressed his recognition of what he has heard and stressed that he had accepted the invitation of Minister for Rural Development Sándor Fazekas and would be visiting Hungary in the near future.

Both parties at the cordial and friendly meeting agreed that the discussion had laid the foundations for long-term Hungarian-Saudi agricultural cooperation.

Dr. Endre Kardeván also held a meeting with his Saudi counterpart, Deputy Director of the Saudi Food and Drug Authority Dr. Ibrahim Bin Saad Al-Mohaizea, on Saturday. This was the first opportunity for the leaders of the Hungarian and Saudi Arabian food safety authorities to discuss and clarify exactly what criteria and regulations Hungarian businesses must comply to in order to begin exporting their foods and food products to the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia.

(Press Office of the Ministry of Rural Development)