New Delhi: In circa 2010 Indian leaders, diplomats and journalists who travelled to Islamabad for a series of bilateral meetings and the SAARC conference were gifted mangoes by the then Interior Minister Rehman Malik.
Pak President Gen Pervez Musharraf also sent mangoes to former premier Atal Bihari Vajpayee in 2001.
Indira Gandhi and military ruler Zia-ul-Haq also exchanged gifts of mangoes but things were hard at this stage.
On June 13, 2021, Pakistan foreign ministry spokesman Zahid Hafeez Chaudhri said: “Every year, the President of Pakistan sends high-quality mangoes as gifts to selected countries as part of goodwill and to promote our trade diplomacy efforts”.
The remarks came after there were media reports that its longtime associate and ‘sponsor’ the United States and ‘iron brother’ China have rejected the supplies of the ‘king of fruits’.
Not long ago, a press statement from China has that Pakistan and China are “iron brothers” and Islamabad is Beijing’s “staunchest partner” in the region.
Media reports, however, claimed that the ‘chaunsa variety’ of mangoes from Pakistan were sent to these countries on behalf of President Dr Arif Alvi.
The boxes of mangoes are also likely to be supplied to Iran, Gulf countries, Turkey, the United Kingdom, Afghanistan, Bangladesh and Russia. As of now officially Pakistan has denied reports of rejection of the mangoes by China and the United States.
The Pak foreign office spokesman said, “The Ministry of Foreign Affairs prepares a list of countries keeping in view quarantine regulations, sanitary and phytosanitary requirements as well as availability of flights. Since last year,
Covid-19 related stipulations are also part of the consideration. For the current year, the process is still in the planning stage. As such, there is no question of dispatch of mangoes to any country.”
“A section of the Indian media has carried wrong and irresponsible reports,” he said.
“We have seen media reports regarding the dispatch of Pakistani mangoes last week as gift to some foreign dignitaries. We reject these reports as factually incorrect and misleading”.
The mango exports from Pakistan increased to $104 million in 2019-20 from $78 million the previous year. Reports also claimed that Nepal, Sri Lanka, Canada and Egypt too expressed regrets to accept the seasonal fruit.
Pakistan has been sending mango consignments to heads of other nations since the 1980s. In the past, Mangoes have been sent to nations like Australia and India to improve relations between the nations.
In 2015, Pakistan’s then Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif had sent mangoes to Prime Minister Narendra Modi, then president Pranab Mukherjee, former Prime Minister Atal Bihari Vajpayee and Congress party chief Sonia Gandhi. In 2010, responding to India’s aid to flood-hit people in his country, Pakistan Prime Minister Yusuf Raza Gilani sent five boxes of mangoes to Prime Minister Dr Manmohan Singh.
In 2010, the then Prime Minister of Pakistan, Yousaf Raza Gillani, had sent mangoes to every Indian diplomat who visited Pakistan in the run-up to the Foreign Secretary-level talks and the third SAARC Conference of Home Ministers.
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