Under the directives of H.H. Sheikh Nahayan Mabarak Al Nahayan, Minister of Tolerance and Coexistence, President of the Khalifa International Award for Date Palm and Agricultural Innovation ‘s Board of Trustees, the Award’s Secretary General organized an open virtual discussion session with the Award’s applicants for the Thirteenth session, 2021, on Sunday the 15^th of November,2020. The session was attended by Dr. Helal Humaid ALKaabi, Member of the Khalifa International Award for Date Palm & Agricultural Innovation’s Board of Trustees, Head of the Award’s Finance & Administration Committee, international organizations representatives, in addition to 38 candidates representing 11 different countries, and previous award winners.

In his opening speech, Dr. Helal highlighted that this is the second discussion session organized by the Award’s General Secretariat, and the keenness of the Award’s General Secretariat's to expand the scope of international participation in the award’s categories, signifies the efficiency of Award’s electronic business continuity. The discussion session held with the target groups resulted in an easy interaction and the team was able to answer more than 120 questions received from applicants. 

Dr. Helal, also added that the direct discussion session with the target groups provide an opportunity to a large number of applicants, and expands the scope of participation and answering inquiries about the participation methodology, and how to prepare files for submission, as well as the evaluation procedure followed by the scientific committee in evaluating researches, studies and projects presented.