AlUla Agrees to Enhance Palm, Date Production Ahead of Global Promotion

The Royal Commission for AlUla signs an MoU to enhance the palm and date sector. (SPA)
The Royal Commission for AlUla signs an MoU to enhance the palm and date sector. (SPA)
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AlUla Agrees to Enhance Palm, Date Production Ahead of Global Promotion

The Royal Commission for AlUla signs an MoU to enhance the palm and date sector. (SPA)
The Royal Commission for AlUla signs an MoU to enhance the palm and date sector. (SPA)

The Royal Commission for AlUla (RCU) signed a memorandum of understanding with the National Center for Palms and Dates (NCPD) to boost the palm and date sector.

The MoU also aims to achieve production efficiency from AlUla dates, ahead of promoting them locally and internationally.

The agreement includes improving the quality of the palm and dates sector in AlUla to produce crops of high economic value.

It also studies the establishment of centers dedicated to providing services to farmers, setting up workshops for them and those interested, and enabling distributors to market their produce through e-commerce.

Agriculture is one of the main economic sectors included in the Journey Through Time Masterplan, which aligns with the Vision for AlUla, and is in line with the Kingdom’s Vision 2030 to promote sustainable development in the governorate by investing all available factors in creating a diverse and prosperous economy.

Under the memorandum, the two parties will work to enhance understanding in their familiar fields, including inviting investors and those interested in the palm and dates sector to participate in the annual festival of dates in AlUla.

In addition, it includes presenting distinguished business models for existing facilities and services and motivating AlUla farmers to obtain the Saudi dates mark.

CEO of the National Center for Palms and Dates Mohammad al-Nuwairan said AlUla farms have a qualitative production center for many types of dates, which are very popular in the local and international market.

AlUla boasts more than two million palm trees with production exceeding 90,000 tons of dates annually.



Trump Launches His Own Meme Coin, Value Soars

US President-elect Donald Trump views fireworks at Trump National Golf Club Washington DC in Sterling, Virginia, US, January 18, 2025. (Reuters)
US President-elect Donald Trump views fireworks at Trump National Golf Club Washington DC in Sterling, Virginia, US, January 18, 2025. (Reuters)
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Trump Launches His Own Meme Coin, Value Soars

US President-elect Donald Trump views fireworks at Trump National Golf Club Washington DC in Sterling, Virginia, US, January 18, 2025. (Reuters)
US President-elect Donald Trump views fireworks at Trump National Golf Club Washington DC in Sterling, Virginia, US, January 18, 2025. (Reuters)

US President-elect Donald Trump has launched his own cryptocurrency, appropriately called $TRUMP, sparking feverish buying that sent its market capitalization soaring on Saturday to several billion dollars.

In a message posted on his Truth Social platform and X, Trump unveiled the so-called meme coin, which is designed to capitalize on the popularity of a certain personality, movement or viral internet trend.

Meme coins have no economic or transactional value, and are often seen as a means of speculative trading.

"This Trump Meme celebrates a leader who doesn't back down, no matter the odds," says the coin's official site, which makes reference to the assassination attempt against the Republican in July 2024.

In the hours following the overnight launch, the crypto community posed questions about the legitimacy of the $TRUMP coin, and its actual link to the president-elect, with some fearing a scam.

But the fact that the announcements came on Trump's official social media channels seemed to reassure the market, as did the fact that Trump has used one of the companies behind the project, CIC Digital LLC, in the past to sell non-fungible tokens (NFTs).

By mid-morning on Saturday, the market capitalization for $TRUMP stood at nearly $6 billion.

Neither Trump nor the company managing the launch, Fight Fight Fight LLC, offered details about how much he made from the initial batch of meme coins released.

The coin's official site said 200 million meme coins were issued, with Fight Fight Fight saying an additional 800 million would be added over the next three years.

At the current rate, the coins not yet on the market would be worth about $24 billion.

Initially opposed to cryptocurrency, Trump made a sharp about-face during his 2024 presidential campaign, becoming a champion of the concept and promising to develop the sector, notably by loosening regulations.

Before this new announcement, businessmen linked to Trump had in October put online a crypto platform called World Liberty Financial.