Riyadh -- The Saudi Food and Drug Authority (SFDA) signed Thursday a protocol of health and technical requirements for imports of cattle, sheep, and goat meat and its products with South Africa’s Department of Agriculture, Land Reform and Rural Development.

The SFDA and the South African ministry signed the protocol on the sidelines of the Saudi-Arab-African Economic Conference held in Riyadh on Thursday.

 Dr. Hisham bin Saad Aljadhey, SFDA’s CEO, and Sami Al-Sager, SFDA’s vice president for operations, attended the signing ceremony from the Saudi side.

South Africa was represented by Minister of Trade, Industry and Competition Ebrahim Patel, Ambassador to Saudi Arabia Mogobo David Magabe, and Mr Yunus Hoosen, the chief of Invest South Africa (InvestSA), a branch of the Department of Trade, Industry and Competition.

The protocol aims to accredit the regulatory body in South Africa by the SFDA to export cattle, sheep and goat meat and its products to Saudi Arabia.

 It also aims to ensure the compliance of the regulatory body and the establishments exporting these products in South Africa with the health and technical requirements of the slaughtering and meat production facilities approved by the SFDA.

 Furthermore, the protocol guarantees the safety and quality of the exported meat.