Lt. General Bakri Hassan Saleh, First Vice President and Prime Minister of Sudan, today received a delegation from the General Secretariat of the Khalifa International Award for Date Palm and Agricultural Innovation, headed by Dr. Abdul Wahab Zayed, Secretary-General of the Award.

The delegation highlighted the UAE’s efforts to organise the 10th Sudanese Dates Festival from 5th to 9th December, 2017, and praised the directives of H.H. Sheikh Mansour bin Zayed Al Nahyan, Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of Presidential Affairs, to organise the festival and support the palm date production and agriculture sector in Sudan.

A Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) was then signed between the two countries to organise the Sudanese Dates Festival 2017, with the attendance of Hamad Mohammed Humaid Al Junaibi, UAE Ambassador to the Republic of Sudan.

In a press statement, Al Junaibi said, "The signing of the MoU is part of the directives of H.H. Sheikh Mansour bin Zayed Al Nahyan, Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of Presidential Affairs, to organise the Sudanese Dates Festival 2017, in co-operation with the Sudanese Ministry of Agriculture and Forests and the Sudanese Date Palm Society, and in co-ordination with the UAE Embassy in Khartoum, to develop the date palm and date production sector in the Republic of Sudan."

He added that the signing of the MoU with Sudan highlighted the national, regional and international credibility of the Khalifa International Award for Date Palm and Agricultural Innovation.

Dr. Zayed praised the UAE’s leading position during the past decades to support, advance and develop date palm production and agriculture sector on regional and international levels, due to the directives of President His Highness Sheikh Khalifa bin Zayed Al Nahyan, the patronage of His Highness Sheikh Mohamed bin Zayed Al Nahyan, Crown Prince of Abu Dhabi and Deputy Supreme Commander of the UAE Armed Forces, the support of H.H. Sheikh Mansour bin Zayed Al Nahyan, and the monitoring of Sheikh Nahyan bin Mubarak Al Nahyan, Minister of Culture and Knowledge Development and Chairman of Board of Trustees of the Award.