Shipment of mangoes

QUEENSLAND, AUSTRALIA: This is with reference to the article “First successful sea shipment of mangoes to UK and Netherlands” (August 14).

I would just like to point out that under the Australia-Pakistan Agricultural Sector Linkages Programme (ASLP), which started in 2006, successful sea freight shipments of mangoes have been made to Europe in the last two years. While shipment you mention is a laudable effort, it is incorrect to state that it is the first successful sea freight shipment of mangoes to Europe. ASLP is a co-operative effort involving mango growers in Pakistan, Pakistan Horticulture Development and Export Company, University of Agriculture Faisalabad, The University of Queensland, DEEDI Queensland, Agriculture and Food Western Australia, and the Australian Centre for International Agricultural Research.

Ray Collins

Published in The Express Tribune, August 18^th, 2010.