WASHINGTON: The US has said the success of the mango initiative aimed at facilitating entry of Indian mangoes in the American market signals the resolve of both sides to forge stronger trade ties and create significant new economic opportunities for the people of the two countries.
Welcoming the arrival of Indian mangoes in Washington DC after nearly two decades, US Trade Representative Susan Schwab said "the Indian mangoes I enjoyed today represent more than just a market opening for one product."
"The success of the mango initiative signals the determination of both India and the United States to forge deeper and stronger trade ties and create significant new economic opportunities for the people of both of our vast countries," she said.
The mango initiative launched by President George W Bush and Prime Minister Manmohan Singh just over a year ago was aimed at facilitating entry of Indian mangoes into the U.S. market.
Several U.S. government agencies worked intensively with Indian officials on a range of technical issues so that the first shipment of mangoes coincided with the current harvest season.
Schwab visited a successful agricultural business and a subsistence farming community on a visit to India in mid-April that focused on strategic trade issues with India.
That visit highlighted both the challenges and the opportunities in opening new trade flows between the United States and India and the importance of more fully connecting India to global trading system.
Speaking on the occasion, President of the US-India Business Council Ron Somers said the "US willingness to purchase Indian mangoes is another important step towards deeper engagement and more robust US-India trade".
"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," said Somers.
USIBC salutes India's farmers and the Indian agricultural community, and extends its heartfelt congratulations on this joyous occasion of the first mango consignment reaching Washington D.C., Somers said.
It also congratulated the Bush Administration for making this happen, and welcomed U.S. Trade Representative Susan Schwab's sincere efforts to successfully deepen Indo-US trade.
At a press conference at the Embassy of India where the visiting Indian Foreign Secretary was present, India Ambassador Ronen Sen spoke of the mangoes' issue as a symbolic and substantive move in bilateral relations.
Symbolically, Sen argued it was emblematic of the relationship between the United States and India and that too a year after the issue had been taken up by the American President and the Indian Prime Minister which has manifested in a new sense of confidence and working together.
The top Indian envoy said export of Indian mangoes to America benefited Indian farmers and in the framework of globalisation and economic reforms that brought about mutual benefit.
