The mangoes in Pakistan are not famous for being the national fruit of Pakistan or the king of the fruits, but they are also playing a very important role in maintaining the cultural and social bonds. In fact, in a new innovation, the mango diplomacy of Pakistan became very popular after Pakistan sent the gifts of its best mangoes to the world leader amid COVID-19.
Pakistan amid the pandemic of COVID-19 maintained its mangoes diplomacy and gifted the best of mangoes to many embassies of the world and this is the reason that many high ranks officials of different embassies in Pakistan lauded such move of Pakistan and posted pictures of the Pakistani mangoes on their twitter handles with some beautiful words of praise.
For the first time in the current season, the mango diplomacy came under discussion when the Australian ambassador, Dr Geoffrey Shaw, last month shared his photos enjoying Pakistani mangoes with fork and knife; however many Pakistanis in comments told him to through away the knife and eat the mangoes in pure Pakistani style.
Some days later, the Australian Ambassador accepted the challenge and posted the pictures while eating mangoes in pure Pakistani style and posted on his twitter handle “I have listened to many comments after my previous tweet and tried eating mangoes in the traditional Pakistani style” he wrote. “A good mango, eaten ‘the right way’, can lift your spirits. It’s rightly called ‘The King of Fruits’ in Pakistan.”
The Australian Ambassador was not only the one who showed his love for the famous and delicious mangoes of Pakistan as several other high rank foreigners including the British High Commissioner to Pakistan, Dr Christian Turner, who posted a verse of the beautiful poetry by Mirza Ghalib, in his tweet, with photos of mango slices. “Aamo mein bus do khubiya honi chahiye, ek meethay ho aur bahut saray ho” (Mangoes should have two qualities: They need to be sweet and there needs to be a great quantity)” He also thanked friends who had sent him the mangoes.
Meanwhile, the Netherlands Ambassador to Pakistan, Wouter Plomp, also shared his love for mangoes in a tweet in Urdu, saying: “Pakistani aam dunya may behtreen hay” (Pakistani mangoes are the best in the world). The popular variety of mangoes, Anwar Ratol, is his favourite, he added. He also thanked Pakistan’s Ambassador to the Netherlands, for the gift of such delicious mangoes.
The Ambassador of Switzerland to Pakistan, Benedict de Cerjat, in an online post thanked Pakistan Army Chief General Qamar Javed Bajwa for the “kind gesture of sending mangoes” to welcome him in Pakistan, adding that the gift made his day “very special”.
Ambassador of Azerbaijan to Pakistan, Ali Alizada, suggested everyone to “strengthen immunity” amid the coronavirus pandemic by savouring fresh and delicious Pakistani fruit such as vitamin-rich mangoes, peaches and cherries.
It is important to mention here that Pakistan produces around 1.7 million tonnes of mangoes every year, therefore being the world’s sixth-largest exporter of the fruit. Saudi Arabia and the UAE are among the top destinations for Pakistani mangoes along with being exported to more than 50 other countries. There are more than 200 varieties of mangoes in Pakistan, including Chaunsa, Sindhri, Langra and Anwar Ratol.
Japan is also among the countries importing the highest number of mangoes and in the current season, a total of almost 20 tons of Pakistani mangoes have arrived in Japan and this number is likely to reach to 150 tons till the end of the season.
