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The seventh edition of Al Dhaid Dates Festival, organised by Sharjah Chamber and hosted at Al Dhaid Expo Centre, has concluded successfully.

In addition to resurrecting the UAE's popular legacy and long-standing traditions, the festival helped solidify its position as a platform for palm cultivation and date production industries. Over the course of four days, the festival made 130 winners and attracted thousands of visitors, an increase of 25 percent over last year's edition.

HE Abdallah Al Owais, Chairman, a number of members of SCCI Board of Directors, Mohammad Musabah Al Tunaiji, General Coordinator of the Festival, members of the Festival's Organizing Committee, and a number of directors of government agencies were present at the closing ceremony that witnessed awarding winners at the two competitions, namely, General Elite and Al Dhaid Fort Elite Competitions, where hundreds of palm producers and owners engaged in fierce competition.

In addition to organising performances by folklore bands, competitions, and various cultural programmes to celebrate palm trees and their various varieties and types, the Khalidiya Suburb Council of the Department of Suburbs and Villages Affairs sponsored and organised the first charity auction as part of the closing ceremony. They also worked in collaboration with the Organising Committee of the Al Dhaid Date Festival.

Abdallah Sultan Al Owais emphasised that Al Dhaid Date Festival's seventh edition's extraordinary success underscores the SCCI's long-term strategy for the event, which is exemplified by the significant participation of farmers and owners of palm trees as well as visitor turnout. Al Owais noted that the festival was a huge success from a strategic standpoint, especially given that it took place during the Year of Sustainability.

The SCCI wanted to utilise the festival to support the UAE's efforts to develop a productive and sustainable agricultural sector by serving as a global model, encouraging excellence in the field of agricultural sustainability, and inspiring farmers and palm owners to adopt best practises and adhere to modern agricultural practises, and promote a spirit of positive competition, with the aim of developing and diversifying local production in a way that supports the objectives of the National Strategy for Food Security, which aims to make the UAE the best in the world in the global food security index by 2051.

According to Muhammad Musabah Al Tunaiji, the festival's seventh edition saw a significant improvement in terms of its level of success. This was due to the festival's celebration of a wide range of economic, commercial, and cultural events and activities, which were carried out in a unique heritage setting and where farmers and owners of palm trees engaged in fierce competition to display the most diverse varieties of dates, which boosted the festival's potential to draw a sizable number of visitors, highlighting the desire to keep developing the Al Dhaid Dates Festival's activities in the upcoming years and to keep up the pace of its positive and rapid growth.

The festival, which took place from 27th to 30th July, saw the awarding of 130 winners who took part in the main festival competitions with cash awards totaling AED 1 million, and wide participation by productive families that reflected a diverse spectrum of local heritage and the celebration of the palm tree.

A number of official delegations and representatives of government agencies and authorities praised the event as exceptional. A delegation from Al Qaseem Dates Festival Committee in the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia visited the festival and was welcomed on a tour of the best regional dates and traditional handicraft products that are made of palm trees. They praised Sharjah Chamber for developing activities and competitions to support the owners of palm-producing farms and to promote the palm-growing sector and ensure its sustainability.