Dr. Hamad bin Said al- Oufi, Minister of Agriculture and Fisheries has met in his Office with a number of officials in government and private institutions to enhance the local added value in support of Small and Medium Enterprises (SME) in the food production sector.

The meeting comes within the framework of cooperation between the Public Authority for the Development of Small and Medium Enterprises (Riyada) with related parties.  The meeting discussed several important aspects of establishing an institutional framework to support small and medium enterprises in the agriculture and fish sector.  It also discussed the establishment of a specialized unit for local value added in Riyada.

PDO specialists gave a presentation on the company’s experience in enhancing local value added in the oil and gas sector through the local value-added strategy aimed at maximizing local investments, increasing local purchases of goods and services, developing small and medium enterprises, participating in recruitment and  training , development of local talent, increasing contribution to the development of local communities through specific annual programs with a specific timeframe for implementation and measurement of performance indicators.  The specialists discussed the possibility of benefiting from them and transferring the knowledge to be applied to the food production sector.  These include the best practices to activate the initiative and the establishment of small and medium enterprises in the agricultural and fish sector.

Eng. Saleh bin Mohammed al- Shanfari, CEO of Oman Foods Investment Holding Company introduced some initiatives that are being implemented by the company and suggested the implementation of a specialized program in boosting the local added value.

He added that the specialists in Al Raffd Fund, Oman Development Bank are ready to facilitate financing the establishment of SMEs.