AlKass Digital
El Jadida, Morocco- The 11th edition of the Salon du Cheval, held under the patronage of His Majesty King Mohammed VI of Morocco, was inaugurated at the Mohammed VI Exhibition Centre in El Jadida, Morocco yesterday.
The Qatar Racing and Equestrian Club (QREC), the platinum sponsor of the 11th renewal of the Salon, is participating in the week-long event held under the theme ‘Equestrian Sports in Morocco’.
Qatar Equestrian and Modern Pentathlon Federation and Al Shaqab ‘Member of Qatar Foundation’ are also participating in the Salon.
Aziz Akhannouch, Morocco’s Minister for Agriculture and Maritime Fisheries, officially inaugurated the Salon. Also present with the Moroccan Minister during the opening ceremony, Prince Abdellah Alaoui, President of the Moroccan Royal Equestrian Federation, Officials of the Salon du Cheval, H E Issa bin Mohammed Al Mohannadi, QREC Chairman, Nasser bin Sherida Al Kaabi, QREC General Manager, Khalid bin Mohammed Al Ali, QREC Board Member and Abdullah Al Yami, First Secretary of Qatar Embassy in Morocco, who represented the Embassy on behalf of H E Abdullah bin Falah Al Dosari, Ambassador of Qatar to Morocco.
H E Minister Akhannouch inaugurated the Salon with a large participation and significant attendance from several countries after the Salon has become a landmark in Morocco in general and in the city of El Jadida in particular every year.
The Minister toured the Salon, starting with the stand of Qatar as QREC is the platinum sponsor of this year’s edition.
H E Issa bin Mohammed Al Mohannadi, QREC Chairman, presented a memento trophy to the Minister, expressing Qatar’s pride in participating in the prestigious equestrian salon every year.
Following the Moroccan Minister’s tour of the Salon, a wonderful horse show was held and attended by all participants. The show included several Moroccan arts and techniques of horse riding and the equestrian sport. There was a huge turnout,
QREC is participating in this year’s renewal of the Salon with a delegation consisting of H E Issa bin Mohammed Al Mohannadi, QREC Chairman, Nasser bin Sherida Al Kaabi, QREC General Manager, Khalid bin Mohammed Al Ali, QREC Board Member, Abdulla Rashid Al Kubaisi, Racing Manager, Abdulrahman Mohammed Al Naam, Head of Riding & Training Section, Hassan Al Manai, Head of Horse Show Section, and Jawaher Sultan Al Suwaidi, Head of PR and Media Section.
“We attended the opening ceremony to support Qatar’s participation in the Salon, especially as QREC is the Platinum Sponsor of this year’s edition. We do realise the significance of this participation given the nature of the strong relations between Qatar and Morocco not only on the political and economic levels, but also on the cultural and sports ones. We, therefore, were keen to be here even though HE Ambassador Abdullah bin Falah Al Dosari had a previous commitment to another event at the same time of the inauguration of the Salon,” said Abdullah Al Yami, First Secretary of Qatar Embassy in Morocco, who represented the Embassy in the opening ceremony, on behalf of HE Abdullah bin Falah Al Dosari, Ambassador of Qatar to Morocco.
“We are ready to provide all facilities to the Qatari delegation at the Salon du Cheval. We will spare no effort in providing any logistic requirements, but all other technical matters related to this participation have been already perfectly fulfilled by QREC. After all, we all work for Qatar,” he added.
H E Aziz Akhannouch, Morocco’s Minister for Agriculture and Maritime Fisheries, stated that Morocco pays due attention to horses in accordance with the directions from His Majesty King Mohammed VI of Morocco.
“In Morocco, we pay due attention to horses as there are 100,000 horses of various breeds with 33,000 people working in this field. We are deeply committed to horses and strive to ensure the integrity of horses. In addition, there are 1,800 pure Arabians in Morocco. As such, investments are large in this area. We do work towards the success of this annual event which see the participation of many countries as it reflects how Morocco is deeply connected to the equestrian sports and the desire to attract more investments in this field.”