Abu Dhabi Food Control Authority (ADFCA) has announced plans to host the 'Emirates International Date Palm Festival'  in the UAE capital from November 21 to 26.

The event will be held at Abu Dhabi National Exhibition Centre simultaneously with  SIAL Middle East, the regional edition of one of the largest food industry exhibitions in the world.

Organized by ADFCA and Turret Middle East, the Emirates International Date Palm Festival will be held under the patronage of Sheikh Mansour Bin Zayed Al-Nahyan, Deputy Prime Minister, Minister of Presidential Affairs and ADFCA chairman.

Spanning 6000 sq m of exhibition space, the festival is expected to attract around 200 exhibitors from 17 countries, about double the number of exhibitors compared to laast year, said the ADFCA in a statement.

Around 17,000 visitors from the UAE and the region are also expected to visit the exhibition. Five countries will have their own national pavilions: Jordan, Iraq, Oman, Morocco, and Iran.

The Festival will also include a host of activities such as date palm climbing, which is considered of the key heritage sport.

Mohamed Jalal Al Reyaysa, chairman of the Higher Organizing Committee for the Festival, said, “This year’s festival will drive huge interest from exhibitors, professionals and visitors alike, owing the tremendous success of previous editions and the new and proactive activities planned."

Besides, the Festival provides a unique platform to exchange and share knowledge and experiences amongst producers, experts and key decision makers at date palm industry.”

A key highlight of the festival will be “Testing Date Oasis” where visitors will have the opportunity to test dates from around the world and know more about them.

Also the amateur competition will allow photographers to present their date palm-centric photos and the best works will be awarded when Festival closes.

“Date Kitchen”, a new activity for this year, will see local and international chefs offering delicious dishes that have date as an ingradient.

The date palm festival will also see a host of plays and poetry recitals themed around dates and delivered by school and university students.

As part of its endevours to entertain, engage and educate kids, the Festival will have a specialized zone for children where they can enjoy a variety of activities such as free painting, mud works and face painting.

Kids will also have the opportunity to know about palm culture and planting where they will be allowed to plant a palm tree and take care of it.

Each palm will have the name of that child and at the end of the festival shoots will be collected, implanted in Abu Dhabi and presented to Sheikh Khalifa Bin Zayed Al Nahyan, the UAE’s President, at a big ceremony.

The Festival will have a “Heritage Village” that hosts various heritage and cultural activities with a view to  preserve and educate visitors about the traditional lifestyle of the people of this country.

The Palm Museum will house cultural hand-crafted palm-themed works from UAE and Gulf museums.-TradeArabia News Service