Abu Dhabi: Through its wealth of knowledge when it comes to the date palm sector, the UAE intends to enhance Egypt’s date cultivation.
Under the patronage of Shaikh Mansour Bin Zayed Al Nahyan, Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of Presidential Affairs, the Khalifa International Date Palm Award announced the launch of the inaugural and annual Egyptian Date Palm Festival, which will be held from October 8 to 10 in Siwa, Egypt.
“This initiative derives from continuing to seek solutions to problems encountered frequently by Egyptian farmers such as unavailability of high- quality varieties and effective marketing solutions to raise the economic value of Egyptian dates,” Dr Abdulouahhab Zaid, Secretary-General of the award, said.
Some of the festival’s integral supporters are the United Nations Industrial Development Organisation (UNIDO) and the Food and Agriculture Organisation (FAO).
Among some of the festival’s purposes, which the Khalifa International Date Palm Award is also looking to sustain, are recognising constraints facing date producers and proposing appropriate solutions accordingly, presenting solutions for date cultivation and encouraging date production. Identifying marketing sectors to help improve national capacities at targeting export markets and exchanging know-how and information between date growers, processors, in and outside Egypt, are also some of the goals the festival aims to achieve.
“Our sponsorship is not only restricted to organising the festival. It will also contribute to the launch of the festival’s awards which will consist of 10 categories, where the first winner of each category will receive 20,000 Egyptian pounds (Dh9,381) as well as an appreciation certificate and a trophy,” Helal Hamid Saaed Al Kaabi, chairman of the Administrative and Financial Committee of the award, said.
When asked how the agreement between the UAE and Egypt came about, Zaid told Gulf News: “This was an initiative taken by His Highness Shaikh Mansour Bin Zayed in light of the strong relationship between the two countries. As you know, we’ve organised several international conferences and successful date palm festivals at Adnec (Abu Dhabi National Exhibition Centre) so the main idea is to share that experience with our colleagues back in Egypt.”
Maisoon Mubarak is a trainee at Gulf News
