H.E. Minister of Commerce and Industry and H.E. Minister of Municipality and Environment attend signing ceremony of contracts to raise the state’s strategic stock of food commodities

March 31, 2020

strategic stock of food commodities

 

His Excellency Mr. Ali bin Ahmed Al-Kuwari, Minister of Commerce and Industry, and His Excellency Mr. Abdullah bin Abdulaziz bin Turki al-Subaie, Minister of Municipality and Environment and Chairman of the Follow Up Committee for the Implementation of Food Security Policies in the Public and Private Sectors, attended today, Thursday, March 26, 2020, the signing ceremony of contracts to raise the state’s strategic stock of food commodities. The ceremony took place at the Ministry’s headquarters in Lusail.

 

H.E. Sheikh Jassim bin Jabr bin Hassan Al Thani, Acting Undersecretary for Consumer Affairs and Head of the Strategic Storage Working Group for Food Security at the Ministry of Commerce and Industry, signed agreements with 14 major companies specializing in the food sector in Qatar.

 

The signing ceremony witnessed the participation of a number of senior officials from Qatar Flour Mills, the National Food Industries “Food Co.”, Qatar National Import and Export company, Widam Food company, Baladna Food Industries, Al Mana and Partners, Al Rawabi, the International Foundation for Wildlife Research, Al Majid and Jawad (Amjad), Crystal Food Oil Factory, Tazweed for Trading and Catering, Nestle Qatar Trading, Suncons Trading And Contracting, and Bludan Trading Group.

 

The initiative falls in line with the state’s food security strategy and the Ministry of Commerce and Industry’s efforts to enhance public-private partnerships and to bolster the strategic stock system for food products, consumer goods and food supplies, in order to cement Qatar’s leading regional position in terms of sufficiency in strategic stocks, its ability to achieve food security and meet the needs of its citizens and residents.

 

Under these contracts and during the first stage, work will be underway to raise the reserve stocks of strategic commodities, particularly wheat, rice, edible oils, sugar, frozen red meat, long-life milk, and powdered milk.

 

Qatar has launched numerous initiatives aimed at establishing integrated mechanisms to enhance and raise its strategic stock of food and consumer goods, which supports the legislative, electronic, and structural aspects of the state’s development policies in the field of food security after its launch of an electronic system to manage and monitor its strategic stock.

 

The advanced electronic system aims to bolster the partnership between the public and private sectors and to manage and monitor its strategic stock through a platform designed in accordance with the highest international standards and best practices in this field. The electronic system enables the monitoring and management of the state’s strategic stock of food and consumer goods, in addition to determining the sources and percentages of imports of strategic goods. The system also enables the state to identify the most important companies specialized in this field and supervise internal trade and national production in the country, in addition to accurately monitoring the strategic stock and evaluating the effectiveness of its circulation in local markets in order to maintain the quality and validity of products.

 

This system also represents an important tool for officials, decision-makers, institutions, and administrations operating in this field, private sector companies, primary suppliers, and national producers. The system provides an accurate monitoring mechanism for the state’s strategic food commodities and selected vital consumer products, in addition to feed and any other materials that are added to the system. The system also provides access to data relating to these commodities, including their types and quantities, storage methods and quality, available storage space across warehouses and their locations, suppliers and distribution points, and enables the monitoring and management of all elements of the supply chain from import, storage, recycling and distribution, to national production.

 

The strategic stock management and monitoring system is based on the latest artificial intelligence and Internet of Things (IoT) technologies, which support the decision-making process, enable the assessment of different supply chain scenarios and provide effective solutions to meet and overcome challenges that could affect the entire system or some of its parts.