Doha – The Local Dates Festival, organised by the Ministry of Municipality and Environment (MME) in collaboration with Souq Waqif’s Management, successfully concluded on Sunday.
The festival achieved the organisers’ vision of turning it into an event that revives heritage and traditions, with nearly 55,000 flocking to Souq Waqif despite the summer heat to get a taste of the local dates on display.
The festival has recorded outstanding level of sales, with the 19 participating farms selling 57,160 kgs of local dates, out of which 28,163 kgs were of the”Ikhlas” variety, 9,017 tonnes were”Shishi”, 8,692 tonnes of”Barhi” and 7,791 tonnes of”Khnezi” until Saturday.
The Father Emir His Highness Sheikh Hamad bin Khalifa al Thani graced the festival, which comes in the framework of his interest in the preservation of cultural and social heritage.
Minister of Municipality and Environment HE Mohammed bin Abdullah al Rumaihi also visited the Local Dates Festival, along with a number of ambassadors of foreign countries, including ambassadors of the United States, Germany, Belgium, Japan, China, South Korea, Singapore and South Africa.
They checked out the dates and date-based products available and praised the festival’s location, organisation and quality of merchandise.
The MME affirmed its support to the local dates market and expressed its interest in organising the Local Dates Festival in the future also, to meet the aspirations of citizens and farmers, and to provide a competitive platform for the production and distribution of the finest varieties of dates, as well as the preservation of the heritage and traditions of the country.
