Al Wathba Marionnet laboratory workers in the agricultural city of Al Ain, some 160 km...

Al Wathba Marionnet laboratory workers in the agricultural city of Al Ain, some 160 km east of Abu Dhabi, engage in the first step of a cloning experiment February 20, 2002, to produce 2,000 flourishing date palms from a rare plam owned by a United Arab Emirates citizen in accordance with a special contract he signed with the company. [The French company claims to be one of two in the world in biology venture cloning which could produce over 2000 flourishing date palms from one palm. The company's general manager Franck Marionnet did not reveal the name of the UAE citizen or the value of the contract.]