Indian Mangoes arrive in Washington DC

Washington, May 1 (UNI) The first gift baskets of Indian mangoes to arrive in the US Capital in 18 years were handed over to US Trade Representative Susan Schwab and US Agriculture Secretary Mike Johanns by the Indian Ambassador Ronen Sen at an event held at the US India Business Council (USIBC) here today.

At a "Mango Tasting Celebration" today hosted by the USIBC, Indian chef Ramesh, of the famous Bombay Club of Washington, cut the first Alphonso mango. Indian Ambassador Ronen Sen shared cubes of the golden fruit with the two Bush Administration Cabinet officials credited for enabling access of Indian mangoes to the US market.

India's Commerce Minister Kamal Nath remarked upon the first consignment leaving India last Friday: "America for too long has denied itself the taste of delicious Indian mangoes." For Indian mango growers, the American market holds significant promise.

India is the world's largest producer of mangoes - at 12 million metric tons harvested each year - but it accounts for less than 1 per cent of the global mango trade.

America's taste for mangoes is growing - with 99 per cent of the US demand dependent on imports - mostly from Mexico and South America - at 250,000 metric tons annually, valued at 156 million dollars. By contrast, in 2005-06, India exported 58,000 metric tons of mangoes to neighbours in Asia and to Europe.

This breakthrough of opening mango trade is highly emblematic of a push by both the US and India to deepen two-way trade from 30 billion dollars to 60 billion dollars over the next two years.

'' US' willingness to purchase Indian mangoes is another important step towards deeper engagement and more robust India-US trade," Ron Somers, President of the US-India Business Council said.

"As our commercial and strategic partnership deepens, two-way trade will soon reach new levels, creating hundreds of thousands of jobs in India and thousands of jobs here at home," he said.

"USIBC salutes India's farmers and the Indian agriculturalcommunity, and extends its heartfelt congratulations on this joyous occasion of the first mango consignment reaching Washington DC," Somers went on to say.

He also congratulated the Bush administration saying ''USIBC congratulates the Bush Administration for making this happen, and welcomes US Trade Representative Susan Schwab's sincere efforts to successfully conclude Doha and deepen Indo-US trade''.

USIBC recently issued an RFP for its "Free Trade Initiative", calling for proposals to prepare a "roadmap" charting the course for enhanced trade and investment between the world's largest free-market democracies.

UNI