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Ammon News - Deputizing for His Majesty King Abdullah, Minister of Agriculture Khaled Hneifat opened the third international festival of Jordanian dates with the participation of seven countries through 58 pavilions.

The festival was organized by the ministry, the Jordan Dates Association (JDA) and the Khalifa International Award for Date Palm and Agricultural Innovation (KIADPAI).

Hneifat said in opening remarks that Jordan realized the importance of growing different types of dates that are of high economic value, such as the Barhi and Mejdool brands, and is keen to encourage untraditional types of agriculture that meet local and global market needs and quality and food safety standards.

Jordan, he said, is known for its Mejdool dates with about 650,000 palm trees grown in the Kingdom, whose production constitutes about 14% of international output. He added that the ministry aims to raise the number to 1 million trees.

United Arab Emirates ambassador Ahmed Alblooshi said the festival reaffirms the historical bilateral relations and the close cooperation between the two countries.

Abdulouahhab Zaid, Secretary-General of the KIADPAI stressed the importance of partnering with concerned Jordanian entities and international organizations, including the Ministry of Agriculture, JDA, the United Nations Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO), the International Center for Agricultural Research in the Dry Areas (ICARDA), the Arab Organization for Agricultural Development (AOAD), the International Center for Biosaline Agriculture (ICBA), the Date Palm Global Network, and the Date Palm Friends Society to bolster date palm farming in Jordan.