Ambassador of the State of Qatar to Bucharest interested in Romanian agro-food products

The dismissed Minister of Agriculture and Rural Development, Nechita-Adrian Oros, on the occasion of a meeting he had with the Ambassador of the Qatar state to Bucharest, Abdulla Nasser A. Alhemaidi, said the Romanian sheep breeders have a major interest in establishing sustainable partnerships for sheep export and also relayed their request that the state of Qatar should accept the replacement of live animal exports with frozen meat, during the summer, especially when there is heat outside, according to European recommendations.

According to a press statement of the Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development (MADR), the dismissed minister Nechita-Adrian Oros on Wednesday received the Ambassador of Qatar to Bucharest, Abdulla Nasser A. Alhemaidi, the two officials discussing bilateral cooperation and strengthening trade relations.

The Qatari Ambassador said agriculture represents one of the important areas of bilateral cooperation between the two countries, as his state is interested in both the cereals coming from Romania and the import of sheep from our country. Thus, Abdulla Nasser A. Alhemaidi expressed his desire to see more Romanian agri-food products on the Qatar market, for he appreciates their quality, referring especially to oil, flour and corn.

During the talks, Adrian Oros highlighted the long tradition of the trade and cooperation relations between Romania and the State of Qatar, especially in the field of export of cereals and live animals, and he mentioned the Memorandum of Understanding regarding the cooperation in the agricultural field between the Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development of Romania and the Ministry of Municipality and Environment of the State of Qatar, signed in November 2018, according to the same press statement.

"The Romanian official said there is a major interest on the part of the sheep breeders in Romania to establish sustainable partnerships for the export of sheep. In this respect, the Minister proposed the Ambassador to encourage and support businessmen from Qatar to establish direct contacts with the sheep breeders' associations in Romania in order to develop viable partnerships with mutual benefits. Moreover, Adrian Oros also relayed the sheep breeders' request that the state of Qatar should accept the replacement of live animal exports with frozen meat, during the summer, especially when there is heat outside, according to European recommendations. He also said that the gradual shift from live animal trade to the frozen meat trade will ultimately be reflected in the quality of the meat and will protect animals from all the negative effects of transport in very bad weather conditions. This proposal was approved by the Qatari side, the Ambassador also presenting an alternative to it, namely the one for air transport, for the live animals," reads the same release.

At the end of the meeting, Ambassador Alhemaidi renewed the invitation, accepted by the Romanian side, to participate in the International Agriculture Fair AGRITEQ 2020, which will be held in Doha, from March 17-20, 2020.

"Minister Adrian Oros stressed that this will be an opportunity to connect the representatives of large breeders' associations with the businessmen in Qatar, to take concrete steps in the collaboration between the two states," the same statement said.