Riyadh, 26 August 2021: The Saudi Exim Bank participated in the Dates International Conference held on 26-27 August in the city of Buraidah, Al-Qassim, under the generous patronage of the region's governor, HRH Prince Dr. Faisal bin Meshaal bin Saud bin Abdulaziz, may Allah protect him. The conference was attended by a number of experts and academics as well as top executives from several local and international companies.
The conference was held in conjunction with the Buraidah Dates Festival and included various sessions and open discussions on the efforts of the National Center for Palms and Dates to market dates locally and internationally.
The Bank's participation in the conference was through a paper titled “The Kingdom's Efforts to Maintain Quality and Encourage Dates Exports," which was presented by Mr. Abdullah Al-Shayei, Director of Relations in Lending General Department. the session was chaired by Dr. Saleh Al-Dosari, Vice President of the Food Sector at the Saudi Food and Drug Authority. In his presentation, Mr. Al-Shayei discussed the export financing program and its benefits and gave a detailed overview of the bank's role in supporting the export of non-oil products and providing financing and credit solutions that increase the competitiveness of Saudi products and pave the way for more local and foreign investment opportunities in the Kingdom. He pointed out that the bank's participation in the conference underlines its keenness to be a part of local and global events related to the financing and export sectors, facilitate the exchange of information and data with the relevant authorities, and provide support regarding its various products and services.
Dates are very popular in the local community. It is linked to the Saudi culture and is popular around the world, which makes the Kingdom's export of dates not only an economic opportunity but also an expression of the Arab heritage and hospitality. The Kingdom has about 123,300 farms with over 31 million palm trees that produce more than 1.5 million tons of dates annually, accounting for almost 17% of the world's total dates production, ranking second in the world in terms of total production. According to the National Center for Palms and Dates, the conference organizer, Saudi Arabia's date exports amount to more than 201 million kg, out of which about 47 million kg are processed products.
