The Kingdom of Saudi Arabia, the second largest producer of dates in the world, has contributed to support the date palm sector at the international level through initiatives, in coordination with international organizations. The National Center for Palms and Dates (NCPD) and the Ministry of Environment, Water and Agriculture (MEWA) worked on formulating and implementing initiatives, and holding workshops and permanent programs through a strategy to implement these initiatives. This they did by registering dates as a super fruit with the Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) of the UN in 2019, and approving the International Year of Dates in 2027 by FAO, during its 42nd session, and referring the project to the UN General Assembly for approval. There is current coordination with the FAO to announce the World Dates Day. These initiatives included registering the Germplasm Bank of Date Palm Varieties into the Guinness Book of Records for the largest number of palm varieties with 127 varieties. The Kingdom was also approved by the Codex Alimentarius Committee as its chairman. It also participated in the team for preparing the specifications of dates globally, and contributed to the establishment of the International Conference on Dates, which was held in twice, in Riyadh and Qassim. Saudi Arabia had supported the idea of establishing the International Date Council, believing in the importance of the palm and dates sector, and the need to strengthen international cooperation in this field. It hosted its preliminary meeting in 2011, as well as the constituent meeting in 2013. In 2020, it hosted the International Date Council meeting, under the chairmanship of the Minister of Environment, Water and Agriculture, Eng. Abdulrahman Bin Abdulmohsen Al-Fadhli, with the participation of 11 countries. The countries include Saudi Arabia, the UAE, Oman, Yemen, Iraq, Jordan, Lebanon, Palestine, Egypt, Tunisia and Mauritania, in addition to FAO and the Arab Organization for Agricultural Development. — SPA
