On February 27, 2019, the Ministry of Environment, Water and Agriculture held a preparatory workshop for the G20 meetings in 2020 hosted by Saudi Arabia in the fields of environment, water and agriculture under the chairmanship of His Excellency Minister of Environment, Water and Agriculture H.E Eng. Abdul Rahman Al-Fadli and the presence of the Director General of the Arab Organization for Agricultural Development (AOAD) Prof. Ibrahim Adam El Dukheri, and a number of leaders of international, regional and Arab organizations concerned with the environment, water and agriculture sectors.

H.E Eng. Abdul Rahman said that Saudi Arabia gives great concern in its national policies and strategies to the issues of food and water security, sustainable agricultural development and environmental balance, pointing out that Saudi Arabia works in cooperation with the international, regional and Arab organizations and institutions to establish and strengthen these principles.

H.E Eng. Abdul Rahman pointed out that despite the challenges facing the Arab agricultural sector in general and Saudi Arabia particularly, including climate change and water scarcity, and the continuous rise in the prices of agricultural products and inputs, the Ministry of Environment, Water and Agriculture in the Kingdom has worked to address these challenges, through the establishment of the principles of smart agriculture and good practices and the development of methods of production and productivity improvement, aiming of finding new and diversified sources using artificial intelligence and the use of digital technology.

H.E Prof El Dukheri presented AOAD’s vision and the issues that can be presented by Saudi Arabia during the G20 in 2020. The issues include maximizing the contribution of water harvesting to renewable water stocks, developing agricultural research in biotechnology, smart agriculture and its role in enhancing efficiency, security of water, energy and food in the Arab region, Arab food security.

 H.E Prof El Dukheri stressed the role that can be played by AOAD in the settlement of the concept of smart agriculture in the Arab region by providing technical support through the provision of technical and scientific advice to shift from traditional agriculture to Smart modern agriculture that benefits from the great opportunities offered by the ICT revolution and the Internet.

It is worth mentioning that the workshop participants were; AOAD, the Arab Center for the Studies of Arid Zones and Dry Lands (ACSAD), the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO), the International Fund for Agricultural Development (IFAD), the Islamic Organization for Food Security, the Center For Environment & Development For The Arab Region & Europe (CEDARE), the World Organization for Animal Health (OIE), and International Center for Agriculture Research in the Dry Areas (ICARDA).