MENA Poultry Association Trade Team Visits U.S.

Four key board members from poultry associations in the Middle East / North Africa (MENA) region visited the U.S. from June 22 to June 29. The delegation met with major U.S. poultry producers’ associations where they were exposed to how similar associations function, learning more about data collection, generating income, and members’ points of view.
The weeklong program took the executives, who traveled from Egypt, Tunisia, and Morocco, to meetings in Chicago; Champaign, Illinois; Atlanta; and Washington, D.C. USSEC consultant Dr. Miguel Escobar traveled with the four executives. They visited all main U.S. poultry associations including the Poultry Science Association, American Egg Board, U.S.A. Poultry and Egg Export Council (USAPEEC), U.S. Poultry, American Feed Industry Association (AFIA), National Turkey Federation, and Meat Institute. Their presidents, CEOs, and VPs represented these associations. Main topics discussed in each meeting included their board of directors’ configuration, staff, membership base, funds and budgets, collections, checkoff programs, goals, auditing, yearly plans, meetings, education goals, domestic and International achievements, lobbying or no-lobbying possibility, and relations with the industries that they represent. Each MENA executive presented an overview of his or her association. The balance of the meetings was highly rated by all participants.
Egypt’s delegation included Dr. Tharwat Elzeiny, vice chairman of the Egyptian Poultry Association and Dr. Sayed Shalash, consultant, Egyptian Poultry Association. Fathi Ghraieb, president of the Tunisian National Poultry Producers’ (GIPAC) (poultry farmers’ group) board of directors and president of the Ghraieb Poultry Integrated Group and Alaoui Mohammed Youssef, president of Federation of Poultry Associations (FISA) from Morocco rounded out the visiting poultry team.