Official government website of the Government of the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia 
The Supreme Council of the Abdullah Al-Sulaiman International Award for Scientific Creativity in Date Palm and Dates held a meeting chaired by His Royal Highness Prince Dr. Faisal bin Meshal bin Saud bin Abdulaziz, Governor of Qassim Region. His Highness and the members of the Council praised what has been achieved so far by the secretariat of the award and the efforts made by the secretariat to complete the work of the first cycle of the award, which will conclude its work by announcing the names of the winners and the award ceremony at the beginning of the next semester, and then announce the launch of the second cycle of the award. The meeting was attended by UQU President Prof. Dr. Abdulrahman bin Hamad Al-Dawood, a member of the Supreme Council of the Award, the Vice President of the Emirate of the Region, Dr. Abdulrahman Al-Wazzan, the Dean of the College of Agriculture and Veterinary Medicine, the Executive Director of the Award, Prof. Khaled bin Bani Al-Harbi, the Chairman of the Scientific Committee, Dr. Abdullah Al-Suhaim, and representatives of the donor entity, Board Member Dr. Lama Al-Suleiman, Supreme Council Member Dr. Khaled Al-Khair, and Board Member Sultana Al-Suleiman. During the meeting, the UQU President emphasized the university's full support for all initiatives that would promote the Qassim region in all scientific, agricultural, economic and other aspects, especially in the field of palm trees and dates for which the region is famous, praising this award, which aims to encourage and support scientific research and creativity in the field of palm trees, which have great economic importance and are of great importance in diversifying sources of income.
Al-Dawood pointed out that the support that the university receives from the government of the Custodian of the Two Holy Mosques and His Highness the Emir of the region, as well as its professional cadres, expertise and academics in various aspects of science and knowledge, enable it to supervise and follow up the implementation of such initiatives in the best way to ensure maximum benefit to the people of the region in particular and the Kingdom in general.
Prof. Dr. Khalid Al-Harbi, Dean of the College of Agriculture and Veterinary Medicine and Executive Director of the Award, explained that the meeting discussed a number of topics related to the Award, the most important of which is the awarding of the award in its categories to its candidates after deliberation and arbitration by the committees and the Award Secretariat, and the Supreme Council approved the launch of the second session of the Award with a new solution and the adoption of its timetable, which will be announced later on the official website. Al-Harbi added that the meeting discussed and adopted a number of important decisions that would enhance the role of the award in encouraging researchers and those interested in palm and dates to pay attention to scientific research and creativity in this field, which would raise the efficiency of this vital and economic sector in line with the policies of the Kingdom's ambitious and purposeful Vision 2030, which specialized this sector among other sectors due to its importance.
Al-Harbi said: During the meeting, HH the Emir stressed the need to support and encourage scientific capabilities and technologies, and spread the culture of interest in palm and dates at the local and international levels, praising the efforts exerted by the International Award for Scientific Creativity in Palm and Dates "Joud" to promote and develop this field through this useful pioneering initiative that seeks to encourage producers, exporters, marketers, institutions and specialized associations, and stimulate them to this competitive environment for the impact of scientific production in the fields of palm and dates.
It is noteworthy that the award, which is organized by the College of Agriculture and Veterinary Medicine at Qassim University, in cooperation with the Abdullah Al-Sulaiman Charitable Foundation, with a total of one million riyals in its first session, includes four axes, all of which aim to advance scientific research in the field of palm and dates and everything related to date palm cultivation and date-based industries, as the value of the award was determined for each of its branches, as the award for creative work amounted to 350 thousand riyals, while the award in the distinguished scientist branch amounted to 250 thousand riyals, in addition to 200 thousand riyals for the distinguished production prize and another 200 thousand riyals for the model work, and shields will be distributed.
