Today, Monday, the Minister of Agriculture, Eng. Khaled Al-Hunaifat, announced the organization of the Fifth International Festival of Jordanian Dates, in cooperation with the Khalifa International Award for Date Palm and Agricultural Innovation, and the Jordanian Dates Association in the capital, Amman, during the period from 13-15 November.

The festival comes with the support of His Highness Sheikh Mansour bin Zayed Al Nahyan, Vice President, Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of the Presidential Court of the UAE.

In a press conference in Amman, Al-Hunaifat praised the efforts of all concerned parties to develop the Jordanian date palm sector, expressing his thanks for the support of Sheikh Mansour, the follow-up of the Chairman of the Board of Trustees of the Award and Minister of Tolerance and Coexistence Sheikh Nahyan Mubarak Al Nahyan, and the efforts of the General Secretariat of the Khalifa International Award for Date Palm and Agricultural Innovation in Organizing this festival for five consecutive years.

Hanifat, in the presence of Chargé d’Affaires of the UAE Embassy in the Kingdom, Hani Bin Hoyden, and a number of representatives of regional and international organizations residing in Jordan, stressed that the organization of this festival is a continuation of the approach of partnership that brings together the two sisters, Jordan and the UAE, thanks to their wise leaderships, and the consolidation of the strong relationship established by the past five years. Between the Ministry of Agriculture in Jordan, and the Khalifa International Award for Date Palm and Agricultural Innovation in the UAE.

He praised the role of the award in launching and developing the idea of ​​an international festival that has become a title for the Jordanian date sector, a focus of admiration and appreciation for the participants, and a popular reputation among visitors from inside and outside Jordan, and a role model for various productive sectors, not limited to the agricultural sectors, only.

The Secretary-General of the Khalifa International Award for Date Palm and Agricultural Innovation in the UAE, Dr. Abdul Wahhab Zayed, praised the honor of Sheikh Mansour bin Zayed Al Nahyan for organizing the festival, noting that in its fifth session, more than 60 farmers, producers, and exporters of dates, representing 5 countries, will participate. Arabic.

The festival also includes holding a scientific symposium in which more than 20 researchers and academics specializing in date palms from different countries of the world will participate, to present the latest findings of scientific research, within three main axes, in addition to launching a competition for Jordanian dates in its fifth session to provide an opportunity for competition between farmers and producers of Jordanian dates. The winners will be honored during the opening ceremony of the festival on November 13th.

Zayed affirmed his keenness to work with all partners, in order to advance the Jordanian palm and date sector, support and revitalize Medjool dates, in particular, and strengthen cooperation between the UAE and Jordan.

And he indicated that the organization of the festival follows the example of the success it achieved during the past four sessions, and is in line with the pioneering position that the UAE has achieved during the past decades in supporting and developing the palm cultivation sector and date production at the regional and international levels.

He referred to the organization of a series of international date festivals in Egypt, Sudan, Morocco, Mauritania, Mexico and the UAE.

For his part, the head of the Jordanian Dates Association, Eng. Anwar Haddad, indicated that the festival, during the past four sessions, achieved a number of achievements, the most important of which was recording the cultivated areas with a large horizontal expansion of 13 percent, and the remarkable progress of Jordan at the international level, as Jordan ranked 13th in terms of The amount of exports and rank 9 in terms of the value of these exports in the world market.

Haddad said that the UAE constitutes an economic lever in supporting this crop at the regional and international levels by organizing a series of international date festivals.