The National Livestock and Fisheries Development Program, with the French firm Ceva, signed a memorandum of understanding in the presence of sector leaders under the patronage of Minister of Environment, Water, and Agriculture Abdulrahman bin Abdulmohsen Al-Fadhli, who also serves as the program board chairman.
The agreement will be used to localize the production of vaccines, transfer of technology and technical skills, and increase the industrial and commercial production of veterinary vaccines throughout the Kingdom.
The two parties, as stated in the MoU, will strive to reach a high level of efficiency in mass production scale-up and create a clear direction of sustainable commercial operation that satisfies the needs of the local and national market, as well as empower the biosecurity and food security system.
Other aspects of the MoU are the development and modernization of messenger RNA vaccine technologies and the joint research and development of a Middle East Respiratory Syndrome vaccine for camels. This would entail designing, testing, and developing vaccines that are specifically designed to fight the virus.
The agreement also includes the establishment of a vaccine against rabies and associated solutions and the assistance of national control of the illness by the provision of vaccines, capacity building, and application of coordinated prevention strategies.
The partnership between the program and Ceva aims to meet the requirements of the poultry vaccine market in the Kingdom, currently projected at around SR750 million ($199 million).
However, the company will work to cover 30 percent of this market with an initial investment of around SR250 million.
As more poultry projects are sustained with the support of the government and more production within the sector is done, the market is likely to increase by more than 10 percent per year, taking it to about SR1.25 billion by 2030.
Biotech Park is characterized by the entry of the world-leading manufacturer of poultry vaccine, which indicates the important role played by the program in creating new industries in the livestock and fisheries industry.
It also emphasizes that the program will be establishing international collaborations with international companies, organizations, research centers, and universities to aid in the development of advanced biotechnology industries and help in the attraction of high-quality investments.
It also aims at developing new economic fields grounded on biotechnology, improving the health security of veterinary, and advancing the sustainable economic progress of the livestock sphere, empowering national and emerging enterprises, and offering a high-quality research and industrial infrastructure.
Therefore, this will cement the Kingdom as the international center of biotechnology industries and the building of national capabilities. The program will introduce Ceva as the first foreign collaborator to Biotech Park, the future veterinary biotechnology city in Dhurma Governorate.
The city is the first center of innovation, specialization, and total integration of veterinary biotechnology in the world, which acts as an exemplar in terms of sector development and a conference ground supporting markets in the Kingdom, the Gulf, the Middle East, Africa, and more.
Signing of Ceva is a great move because it is the global market leader in the production of poultry vaccines and medicines, and one of the most reputable international companies in the sphere of biotechnology.
The MoU is meant to localize the veterinary vaccine industry; that is, it should be compatible with the strains of the poultry diseases that are common in Saudi Arabia. This incorporates the transfer of technology and technical know-how at Ceva, as well as the adoption of specialized training programs to ensure that manufacturing plants meet the international Good Manufacturing Practice requirements.
