Meknes – The 12th Annual International Agriculture Fair (SIAM 2017) opened on Tuesday in the central city of Meknes.
The official opening ceremony of the six-day event, which will run until April 23, was attended by the president of the Republic of Guinea and current Chairman of the African Union (AU), Alpha Condé, and the Moroccan Minister of Agriculture, Fisheries, Rural Development, Waters and Forests, Aziz Akhannouch, as well as by several government officials and foreign ambassadors to Morocco.
The program will include seminars and forums based on this year’s theme, “Agricultural Business and Sustainable Agricultural Value Chains”, in addition to signing ceremonies of agreement between the participators.
The event, which is intended to be a platform for economic exchange for participants, features this year a total of 1,230 exhibitors, 910 from Morocco and 320 from 66 different countries.
Italy, a leader in sustainable agriculture and biology, has been welcomed as the guest of honor. It is the third largest agricultural country in the European Union.
The representatives of the event are anticipating a large number of visitors, similar to the last year, when the number of visitors reached one million, exceeding the expected number of 850 thousand.
According to the exhibition’s representative, the 2015 edition saw the participation of 1,090 exhibitors representing 59 countries. The number of visitors exceeded 817 thousand visitors thronging to the area where the event is staged, covering 172 thousand square meters.
