The Ministry mentioned that this comes in implementation of the recommendations from the preparatory meeting of the International Dates Council, which was held last month in Madinah under the chairmanship of the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia and with the participation of the United Arab Emirates, Oman, Yemen, Iraq, Jordan, Lebanon, Palestine, Egypt, and Mauritania.

The Ministry pointed out that the Interim Secretariat started its work earlier this month to develop action plan and manage its tasks, including communicating with the countries that were invited to the preparatory meeting and did not complete the deposit of the accession documents to the Council, preparing drafts financial and administrative laws and regulations, preparing preliminary draft of the Council's strategic plan and objectives, main priorities for action and organizational structure, as well as developing projects  proposals and programs of action for the next two years, the proposed budget and its sources and timetable for implementation and finally preparing for the next meeting.

It is worth mentioning that the International Dates Council held a session in Madinah on 11th of Ramadan 1440H in the presence of HE Eng. Abdulrahman bin Abdulmohsen Al-Fadley, Minister of Environment, Water and Agriculture, number of Arab Ministers of agriculture and many representatives of the countries producing and importing dates worldwide, FAO, and AOAD, with a view to enhancing joint Arab cooperation in the development of plans and programs for the development, manufacture and marketing of dates, increasing productivity and promoting good agricultural practices to insure the sustainability of palms and dates in the Arab countries, which accounts for 78% of global production contributing to about 8.5 million tons.