Mandarin festival: Singapore hosts Pakistan event

ISLAMABAD: Pakistani Mandarin Festival has been held in Singapore for the first time, providing an opportunity to traders to find new markets for their horticulture produce. The event was organised by the High Commission of Pakistan in Singapore in collaboration with major supermarket chains including NTUC Fairprice, Shen-xiong, Mustafa and Giant, The Technology Times reported. Syed Hasan Javed, while speaking at the launching ceremony, said that Pakistan is the `orchard of Asia’, producing 33 kinds of fruits in commercial quantity. He said that according to a study of Food and Agriculture Organization, (FAO), Pakistan was among the top 20 producers in the world in twenty horticultural products. “Pakistan’s nearly 14 million tons of fruit and 8 million tons of vegetables can earn billions of dollars, if adequate marketing was done.” At the moment, less than 10% of fruits and vegetable outputs are exported which include world famous mangoes, oranges and dates.

Published in The Express Tribune, January 14^th, 2014.

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