He informed that last year PHDEB succeeded to find a new market of Russia, where kinnow was highly appreciated by Russian peoples. Delegations of exporters have been sent to Russia and China kinnow and mangos with the coordination of PHDEB and in response exports have been affected positively. He said that export of citrus was 1.5 lakh tons in year 2003 and target for the year 2004 has been fixed at 2.5 lakh tons, which can be achieved by adoption of Good Agriculture Practices and maintaining quality standards. He also emphasized that our growers should improve the quality of Kinnow as per international standards by adopting quarantine, fruit fly control. He also explained the achievements and future plans of PHDEB. He said that with the support of Government, PHDEB would be establishing an Agro Processing Zone at Salam near Bhalwal. He apprised the participants about SSP and Quarantine measures that should be followed for export. He informed that PHDEB was facilitating 11 processing units for HACCP certification.

Capt. (R) Muhammad Yousuf, Secretary Agricultural Marketing Punjab said that Ministry of Agriculture Marketing and PHDEB would work in close coordination to facilitate the citrus growers, processors and the exporters in all respect. He assured that a strong marketing infrastructure would be developed for marketing of the agriculture produce.

The participants unanimously agreed to establish a Kinnow Task Force comprising the representatives from growers and exporters association so as to address production and export issues in collaboration with PHDEB.