KARACHI/DUBAI: The three-day Pakistan Mango Festival kicked off in Dubai on Thursday to overwhelming response, officials said on Friday, in a first of its kind event organized by the Consulate General of Pakistan.
The Pakistani Consulate has invited diplomats, members of the business community, representatives of the chambers of commerce, importers and exporters to the festival to promote Pakistani mangoes in the Middle East and other gulf countries. The event, which was held at Palazzo Versace Dubai, featured varieties of food especially prepared using delectable Pakistani mangoes.
“This is the first time [we have organized such an event] and the response is very positive,” Ahmad Amjad Ali, Consul General of Pakistan in Dubai, who inaugurated the festival, told Arab News via phone on Friday. “As the festival kicked off everybody who came to know about it now wants to come. Some 19 varieties of mangoes are being displayed.”
“Many local Arabs who did not know about Pakistani mangoes are being introduced to the Pakistani varieties. Now they have come to know what the Pakistani mango is and they are appreciative,” Ali said. 
The next destination of the king of fruits will be Saudi Arabia.
“Promotion of mangoes in Saudi Arabia is on next year’s promotion calendar,” said Muhammad Ashraf, Spokesman of Ministry of Commerce and CEO of the Pakistan Horticulture Development & Export Company (PHDEC).
Pakistan is expecting to export 100,000 metric tons of mangoes this fiscal year (FY20) as the country expects a “mango crop size of 1.8 million tons.”
This year PHDEC will also promote Pakistani mangoes in the United Kingdom, Belgium, the UAE and China, as well as citrus in China and Indonesia and dates in Turkey, Sri Lanka, Bangladesh and Nepal. 
Pakistan exporters are confident that this promotional branding of the Pakistani mango will help them achieve their export targets.
“Such promotional activities help in the export of fruits from Pakistan,” said Waheed Ahmed, Patron-in-Chief of the All Pakistan Fruit and Vegetable, Exporters, Importers and Merchants Association (PFVA). “Through such activities exporters also get orders from importers of fruits.”
This year mango exports from Pakistan started from May 20, 2019, with the UAE, Saudi Arabia, Afghanistan, Gulf Cooperation Council countries and far eastern countries, including China, being the major destinations of the fruit. 
“Last year 75,000 tons of mango was exported from Pakistan; this year, the country is expected to earn $80 million by exporting 100,000 tons of mango during the current season,” PFVA’s Ahmed said, adding that markets in China and the United States would be the major focus of exports this year. 
Famous commercial scale varieties of the Pakistani mango are Chaunsa, Sindhri, White Chaunsa, Dusehri and Anwar Ratool while many other varieties, including Langra, Saroli, Samar Bahisht, Fajri, Neelum, Alphanso and Almas, are also grown in the country.
“We have registered 10 commercially important varieties of mango while two are in process,” said Dr. Hamidullah Khan, a director at the Mango Research Institute in the city of Multan. “There are hundreds of varieties in the country and many are being developed.”