Doha: The latest edition of ‘Qatari Products Our First Choice’ under the tagline ‘Made in Qatar Festival’ was inaugurated virtually on Sunday by Sheikh Dr Faleh bin Naser Al Thani, Undersecretary of the Agricultural Affairs and Fisheries under the Ministry of Municipality and Environment (MME) in the presence of Sheikh Jassim bin Jabor Bin Hassan Al Thani, Abdulbasit Talib Al-Ajji, Director of National Product Support Department-Ministry of Commerce and Industry, Ramez Al-Khayyat, Board Member/Managing Director of Baladna and Group CEO of Power International Holding, Yasser Al Jaidah, CEO of Qatar Cool, Nasser Al-Khalaf, Chairman of Agrico Farm, Dr. Mohamed Althaf, Director of Lulu Hypermarket Qatar and many distinguished guests and dignitaries from various public and private sector organizations.
The festival, which started on June 25, has created an opportunity for customers to experience the richness of Qatari food and non-food products and agricultural produce. Lulu Hypermarket have been organizing the festival of ‘Qatari Products Our First Choice’ every year since 2010 onwards and the response they received in the past was quite encouraging. This year, it is organised in a bigger way and the festival will continue for a week throughout all Lulu stores.
“The support being extended by the Ministry of Municipality & Environment to the private sector farm owners has been invaluable in this context, which encouraged them to make advancement in the agricultural and other related sectors to ensure food security, self-sufficiency and economic efficiency by adopting best practices in farming with optimal use of scarce resources and minimum impact on the environment,” a company statement said.
“Lulu Hypermarkets have always been an ardent promoter of Qatari food and non-food products and agricultural produce, and almost all prominent Qatari brands including Baladna, Dandy, Ghadeer, Rawa, Al Maha, Al Waha, Mazzrati, Athba, Al Wayba, Lulu Private Label, Agrico Qatar, Paramount, Agricole, Al Balad, Al Wajba, Qbake, Napoli Bakeries, Korean Bakeries, Al Arz Bakery, Gourmet, Rosary, Rayan, Lusail, Aqua Gulf, Qatar Pafki, Batatos, qfm, Lipton, Brooke Bond, Yara, Lux, Pearl, Omo and Clara etc. are on display.
Lulu Hypermarkets have long-standing association with the local farmers and remain the focal point in marketing local agricultural produce for many years.
Since June, 2017 they have been concentrating more seriously in this regard as a socio-economic commitment to the nation,” it added.
Inaugurating the festival Sheikh Dr. Faleh bin Naser Al Thani said: “I am very happy to inaugurate the Made in Qatar Festival in Lulu Hypermarket as they are always promoting and supporting Qatar national products and Qatari farms’ vegetables especially the premium one, and am very happy to indicate that Lulu was the first one who promoted local farms’ products in cooperation with the Ministry of Municipality and Environment”.
Sheikh Jasim bin Jabor Al-Thani, while addressing the inaugural ceremony, said: “My sincere thanks to Lulu Hypermarket Management for their continuous support in highlighting Qatari national products and their constant guidance to the customers to purchase Qatari product.
In fact, all other hypermarkets should follow this practice to promote our national products as we, at the Ministry of Commerce and Industry, have always been giving instructions and guidance to all to do national events to promote Qatari products, once again thanks to Lulu for their support”.
While expressing gratitude to the dignitaries and farm owners for their excellent support, Dr. Mohamed Althaf, Director of Lulu Hypermarkets said: “I take this opportunity to reiterate our commitment to promote Qatari products in all Lulu stores in coming time. We will start increasing our promotions, visibilities, pace, and will make the listing easier.
You would be happy to know that at least 150 Lulu Private Label products including meat, poultry, water and tissues etc. are being manufactured in Qatar.
We are now extending our product lines, and we make enormous progress in our efforts for self-reliance. In future, we would like to use our Qatar hub to export our Qatar-made products to other sourcing offices across the world”.