I extend my congratulations and gratitude to all our stakeholders and partners in making this dream of achieving a record target of 2,00,000 tons of export of Kinnow come true. The Government is placing great emphasis in creating investment friendly environment and providing necessary infrastructure for the attainment of the goals of boosting exports by instituting program for adhering to international compliance's and protocols.
It is the entrepreneurial spirit and collaborative efforts that have made it possible to introduce our Kinnow to more than 25 nations of the world. I strongly feel that we have still only touched the tip of the iceberg and Kinnow exports can further increase many fold as the marketing techniques and the technical infrastructure further matures.
Pakistan over the years has witnessed consistency in policies. The facilitative role of the government towards business community has been an important ingredient in attaining this remarkable goal.
Horticulture has been declared as a priority sector by the government and many infrastructure projects are underway for further strengthening of value chain in the country. PHDEB is making all our efforts to bring the horticulture sector at par with the international standards for attaining optimum benefits from the agreement on agriculture in WTO and the FTAs which the Ministry of Commerce is continuously negotiating with other trading partner countries.
Kinnow is a distinct variety of citrus fruit found in Pakistan due to unique climate and soil conditions in our growing areas. We can further exploit the tremendous potential available for its exports to many countries. Twofold increase of exports of Kinnow within a span of one year makes this a truly remarkable achievement. This was done mainly by exploring new markets and capitalising on the opportunities present in these new markets.