Egyptian government is completing a scheme to transform Siwa Oasis, 560 km (348 miles) from Cairo, into a key agricultural hub for dates products, Minister of Agriculture Essam Fayed said Friday. The Ministry of Agriculture targets expanding into the plantation of palms and contributing in improving the residents' living standards, Fayed added. During the Second Annual Egyptian Date Palm Festival, Fayed has referred that the event was a good chance since the Siwa dates factory, which halted operations in 2005, had been reopened. Fayed has said that there are about 3.12 million palms in Egypt, representing 9 percent of the total number of palms globally and 14 percent regionally. The Egyptian palms are planted on around 90,000 feddans. The Egyptian minister commended the first international festival for palms took place last year, which had been attended by a big number of Middle Eastern countries producing dates. Fayed has stated that UAE Khalifa International Date Palm Award had a big role for developing Egypt's agricultural sector and palms on the local, regional, international levels, and presenting studies and researches.
