The meeting was also attended by, on the part of Poland – the representatives of the Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development, the National Support Centre for Agriculture and the Polish Beef Association, and on the part of Saudi Arabia – the experts from the Ministry of Environment, Water and Agriculture.

Position of Poland

Deputy Minister Jacek Czerniak stressed the role of Poland as an important producer and exporter of agri-food products in the European Union and worldwide. He informed about the readiness to increase the export of that product range to the Saudi market.

The Secretary of State expressed his hope that meat and meat products would have an increasing value in the structure of commodities exported to the KSA. He informed that we were hoping that Polish plants would obtain export licences and we were waiting for determining the date of the Saudi audit in poultry and beef plants.

Deputy Minister Czerniak also pointed to the possibility of developing scientific cooperation between Polish and Saudi research institutes.

The Polish party presented information about the export potential of the agri-food sector, including the beef industry, experience in the area of implementing innovations in agriculture, as well as information about agri-food processing.

Position of the Saudi party

The Saudi party pointed out that food security was a priority in the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia (KSA). It was also important to build a sustainable agriculture resilient to climate change.

The Undersecretary of State at the Ministry of Environment, Water and Agriculture of the KSA, Dr. Suliman Ali Al-Khateeb informed about the Saudi party’s interest in increasing the import of agri-food products from Poland. The Saudi party also expressed interest in strengthening cooperation between our countries in other areas and becoming familiar with Poland’s experience as regards the methods of increasing the productivity in agricultural production, developing agri-food processing or implementing innovations.

Memorandum of cooperation in the field of agriculture

The Deputy Ministers confirmed their will to sign the Memorandum of bilateral cooperation in the field of agriculture, which is currently under negotiation.

Results of the Polish agri-food export to the KSA

In 2023, the value of agri-food export to the KSA amounted to more than EUR 442 million. The commodities exported to the KSA in 2023 were mainly: tobacco, bread, confectionery and other bakery products, food products as well as cheese and curd. In the period January – April 2024, we exported to the KSA the commodities for more than EUR 115 million, mainly bread, confectionery and other bakery products, food products, cigarettes as well as cheese and curd.