The Saudi Aquaculture Society has signed a memorandum of understanding (MOU) with a French group specialized in the insurance industry on Monday, April 9, 2018, in the French Capital City, Paris, to provide an insurance product considered to be the first of its kind for aquaculture projects in Saudi Arabia and to develop a system of cooperative insurance for this promising industry in the Kingdom, in the presence of the French Minister of State for European and International Affairs, Jean-Baptiste Lemueni.

The signing of these agreements came on the sidelines of the visit of His Royal Highness Prince Mohammed Bin Salman Bin Abdulaziz, Crown Prince and Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of Defense to France, which began on Sunday, 8 April 2018 for three days, which aims to build new partnerships and sign a number of agreements that contribute To encourage investment in the Kingdom and in line with the vision of the Kingdom of 2030, which aims to diversify sources of income and to turn to other sources of economy other than petroleum.

HE Eng. Ahmed Bin Rashid Al Balaa, Chairman of the Board of Directors, has represented the Saudi Aquaculture Society, at the signing ceremony. While the French parties have been represented by Mr. Frederic Gian, a member of the Board of Directors of "Guian sa" a specialized company in insurance and Mr. Nicholas Chatelain, the representative of "Partner RE" company, one of the largest reinsurance companies in the world.

According to this agreement, the French group will provide insurance services for aquaculture projects in the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia while The Saudi Aquaculture Society will be the coordinating body between the Saudi companies and the French insurance group.

HE Eng. Ahmed bin Rashid Al Balaa has expressed his great pleasure in this positive development and added that this achievement is a result of the great support received by the Ministry of Environment, Water and Agriculture represented by the Fisheries Department to get such like that kind of insurance products for the first time in the Kingdom for aquaculture projects. The insurance of aquaculture projects will provide the aquaculture sector with greater protection and stability in the face of potential risks. It will also positively affect the sustainability and development of the sector and will encourage further investment in this sector.

From the other side, HE Eng. Ahmed Al-Balaa, Chairman of the Saudi Aquaculture Society, has signed another memorandum of understanding in the field of developing algae production techniques in the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia  with Aranova, French green technology company specialized in algae production. The (MOU) aims to localize algae production techniques in the Kingdom through the transfer of technologies and knowledge related to the production of algae.
This could be done by taking advantages of the Kingdom, which have all the natural and climatic conditions and potentials for establishing an advanced algae farming industry to get benefits in many economic and environmental aspects and to enhance food security in the Kingdom through the production of feed inputs