The Food Industries Forum discusses obstacles and ways to advance the Syrian food industries

 Damascus (ST): The discussions of the Food Industries Forum, which was heldat the Fairs City within the activities of the Food and Packaging Industries Exhibition “Food Expo 2021”, focused on the challenges, obstacles and ways to overcome the food industry sector, in addition to the opportunities available to develop this sector and enhance the competitiveness of its products.

The industrialists participating in the forum presented a number of demands related to the continuation of their facilities in production and marketing locally and abroad, the investment opportunities available in this sector, the incentives included in the new investment law and the facilities included in trade exchange agreements with friendly countries, activating the principle of bartering goods with other countries, encouraging exports, supporting foreign exhibitions, and supporting shipping exports, taking into account the conditions surrounding food establishments when imposing a tax and losing part of machines, offering exemptions on all raw materials included in the food industry and proposing the principle of participatory economic decision-making .

Minister of Industry Ziyad Sobhi Sabbagh stressed the importance of advancing the reality of the food industries in joint cooperation between government agencies, industrialists and chambers to solve many problems through consensus among industrialists on proposals in order to work on solving them in joint cooperation within a unified vision and access to participatory decision-making between government agencies, industrialists and investors in way to achieve the desired goals.

For his part, Minister of Economy and Foreign Trade, Dr. Mohammad Samer Al-Khalil stressed that the government considers the food industry a strategic sector, because it transforms agricultural products into industrial ones and makes us need to import similar products, referring to what the government has done by encouraging and protecting this sector, providing the necessary facilities for its growth and development, and providing exemptions to import raw materials, support its exports, ease obstacles and difficulties, and reduce interest on loans through the import substitution program.

For his part, the Minister of Agriculture, Eng. Hassan Qatna, pointed out that the agricultural sector, which is the source of raw materials for the food industry sector, works in harsh conditions in all respects and at very high production costs in addition to natural problems, which requires integration between the different sectors and the securing of agricultural production requirements for the adequacy of the local market of agricultural products for local consumption, processing and export.

In turn, member of the board of directors of the Damascus and Damascus Countryside Chamber of Industry and head of the food sector in the chamber, Talal Qalaji, underlined the importance of working with the government to overcome the obstacles facing the food industry sector, especially with regard to providing energy and electricity carriers at official prices in order to raise the competitiveness of food products and support the export process and foreign exhibitions, increasing its area to increase the penetration of Syrian food products to foreign markets, which currently reach the markets of more than a hundred countries.

The head of the Jordan Chamber of Commerce, Na’el Kabariti, considered that the Syrian product, despite all the circumstances that Syria is going through, is still distinguished, pointing out that this product needs a commercial brand in foreign markets, with an emphasis on obtaining internationally approved quality certificates in order to facilitate its entry into new markets and support its competitiveness in foreign markets.

K.Q