Beijing, Nov 09: Indian mangoes, to be exported for the first time to China next year, will face stiff competition from Pakistan under a new bilateral agreement inked during Pakistani President Pervez Musharraf's visit here this week. Opening up of China's growing market for mangoes to Pakistan was one of the eight bilateral agreements signed here on November three during Musharraf's visit.
China and India had signed the protocol of phytosanitary requirements for exporting mangoes during Prime Minister Atal Bihari Vajpayee's visit here in June, under which India became the first South Asian country to export the fruit to the highly-controlled Chinese fruits and vegetable market.
Following that, in July, India held the first-ever mango festival here in the Chinese capital, Beijing as well as in Shanghai in east China.
Though the initial exposure of Indian mangoes in China has generated much awareness about the country's potential, official sources said a lot of ground work needs to be done to ensure that the 'king of fruits' received a royal welcome in the middle kingdom on its first year of commercial exports in 2004.
Bureau Report