Under the sponsorship of the Ministry of Agriculture and Natural Resources of the Republic of Sudan, and under the patronage of His Highness Sheikh Mansour bin Zayed Al Nahyan, UAE Deputy Prime Minister, Minister of Presidential Affairs and affirming the depth of the fraternal and historical relations between the UAE and the Republic of Sudan, the Khalifa International Award for Date Palm and Agricultural Innovation is organizing the Fourth Sudan International Date Palm Festival in Khartoum from the 23rd to the 27th of November 2020 at the Friendship Hall, and in collaboration with the Ministry of Agriculture and Natural Resources of Sudan (MOAF), the Sudanese Date Palm Friends Society (SDPFS), the Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) , the International Center for Agricultural Research in Dry Areas (ICARDA), the International Centre for Bio saline Agriculture (ICBA), The Date Palm Global Network (DPGN), the UAE Date Palm Friends Society (DPFS) and the Blessed Tree Magazine.

This festival comes after a series of dates festivals organized by the Khalifa International Award for Date Palm and Agricultural Innovation and that began with the “The First Egyptian Date Palm Festival” that was held in Siwa – The Arab Republic of Egypt, October 2015, followed by the “Second Egyptian Date Palm Festival” in Siwa, November 2016, “The Third Egyptian Date Palm Festival” in Siwa, November 2017, and the ‘’Fourth Egyptian Date Palm Festival’’ in Siwa from the 7th to the 9th of November 2018. The series of festivals then continued in the Hashemite Kingdom of Jordan after organizing the ‘’First Jordan International Date Palm Festival’’ that took place in the capital Amman from the 21st to the 23rd of October 2018, and the ‘’Second Jordan International Date Palm Festival’’ held in Amman from the 16th to the 18th of October 2019). Followed then with organizing the “ First Sudan International Date Palm Festival” in the Republic of Sudan from 5th to the 9th of December 2017, the “ Second Sudan International Date Palm Festival” from the 2nd to the 6th of October 2018, and the “Third Sudan International Date Palm Festival” from the 26th to the 30th of November 2019. This series of significantly successful festivals contributed in the infrastructural development of the date palm sector at a local and international levels it helped in introducing and enhancing the reputation of the Arabic dates. Festivals organized by Khalifa International Award for Date Palm and Agricultural Innovation became a milestone and a platform to coordinate and cooperate in the development of the date palm cultivation and its products locally and internationally. The Fourth Sudan International Date Palm Festival that will be held in the Republic of Sudan and specifically in the capital Khartoum from the 23rd to the 27th of November 2020 will be mainly focusing on the significance and specialty of the Sudanese dates.