The 1st Pakistan International Date Palm Festival and Exhibition aimed at bolstering country’s production and export of dates and its value-added products kick starts here at Expo Center Karachi on Friday. The festival and exhibition are being organized by Ministry of National Food Security and Research and Trade Development Authority of Pakistan in collaboration with Embassy of United Arab Emirates in Pakistan and Khalifa International Award for Date Palm and agriculture innovation. Besides local growers and processors of date palm, 150 delegates from 8 different countries were taking part in the festival and exhibition. The Sindh Governor Kamran Khan Tessori, Chief Minster Syed Murad Ali Shah, UAE Envoy to Pakistan Hamad Obaid Ibrahim Salem Alzaabi, Federal secretary NFSR Ali Tahir, Chief Executive TDAP Zubair Motiwala and Secretary General Khalifa International Award Dr. Abdel Wahhab Zaid cut the ribbon to inaugurate the two-day festival and exhibition. Sindh Governor Kamran Khan Tessori, speaking at the inaugural ceremony of the festival, termed the festival as a reflection of friendly ties of Pakistan and UAE and said that it would not only open new avenues of sharing and cooperation for both the brotherly countries but also help in the promotion of Pakistani dates. He said that there was a vast potential for Pakistani dates in the global market and full access of Pakistani dates to the global market could earn precious foreign exchange for the country. Tessori while stressing on the unity and collaboration among the Muslim countries said that these countries possessed enormous capital, resources and power and they could gain their due share in international trade through unity, coordination and collaborative efforts. The governor stressed on need of commercial plantation, reducing post-harvest loses, value addition and provision of technical assistance to farmers for enhancing production as well as export of dates. He urged the local growers, manufacturers and exporters to leverage form the technical expertise of UAE friends. The Sindh CM Murad Ali Shah, in his address, said that Pakistan is ranked at number five in date cultivation and production where Date Palm was cultivated on 252,000 acres while date production in the year 2022 had remained over 730,000 ton. Sindh is the leading producer of dates which contributes more than 57% to the total national production while Khairpur is a major center for dates, producing more than 300 unique varieties, Murad Shah stated and added that a research center has been set up in Kot Deeji town, training programs have already been organized for growers in Khairpur and 8 solar gas hybrid dryers and 35 tunnel dryers have been installed to produce quality dates. A project has been initiated to introduce palm cultivation in the Thar desert, for which Date Palm cultivation models have been obtained from the Gulf countries, he said and hoped that tissue culture technology will play a key role in accelerating the proliferation of these superior varieties. Ministry of National Food Security and Research and Pakistan Agricultural Research Council were working on the project and after evaluations of 38 different Date varieties 8 were recommended to be planted on a large scale while PARC was also working to enhance post-harvest processing and value addition, Murad Shah added. The UAE envoy to Pakistan, Hamad Obaid Al-Zaabi, said that the unique festival reflects the commitment of both the countries to develop agriculture, enhance agriculture production and ensure food security. UAE and Pakistan were working jointly to enhance agri-production and export through promotion of modern technology and bolstering the bilateral relations in agriculture sector, he said and hoped that the festival would boost the export of Pakistani dates and significantly contribute to the national economy. Federal Secretary MNFS&R, Ali Tahir, while reading out the message of Federal Minster for NFS&R, Rana Tanveer Hussain, said that Date Palm was an important part of our agriculture and the festival will play an important role in development of the sector.