President asks govt to facilitate marketing of mangoes, other fruits in Japan, other Far East countr

ISLAMABAD: President Asif Ali Zardari on Tuesday advised the government to facilitate timely marketing of mangoes and other fruits in Japan and other countries of the Far East.The President gave this advice soon after the Japanese government announced approval for the import of Sindhri and Chaunsa varieties of mangoes from Pakistan.The President said that all the mango growers and exporters should be urgently informed of the Japanese government’s decision so that they can take appropriate steps in time for marketing of their products in the international market.Spokesperson to the President Farhatullah Babar while briefing the media said that the President was keen on diversification of Pakistani exports with emphasis on exports to the countries of the East and Far East.He said that the President has also advised the Government to plan an incentives based policy so that the farmers and exporters could take maximum benefit of exporting mangoes and other fruits to the international markets.The President said that past experience has shown that incentives based policy yielded very high dividends in economic growth as was evident from the steep rise in foreign remittances during the last one year as a result of the incentives given to expatriate Pakistanis.The President further said that the Ministry of Agriculture in collaboration with other stakeholders may hold seminars for the farmers and exporters and guide them to use the opening for aggressive exports to Japan. “We have great export potential which needs to be properly channelized – APP