Mangoes to US

This summer, mangoes may well be out of reach of most people. The king of fruits, the delicious Himsagar, Langda, Fajli and Golapkhash from Bengal are set to travel all the way to US. The 32nd annual conference of US-India Business Council (USIBC), slated to take place on 27 June, will have Festival of Indian Mango as an anchor program.

Malda’s mango-growers are clearly upbeat at the new possibility. Earlier, the state’s mangoes have traveled to UK, Germany, Middle East, Singapore and Malaysia. Last year, about 2.5 metric ton of mango has been sent to UK and Germany.

Like Darjeeling Tea, mangoes like Himsagar and Langda from the state are likened all over the world. No wonder therefore that when Ron Somers, as the head of US business delegation, came calling to Kolkata some time back (see my post, Bengal on US map), he told CM Buddhadeb Bhattacharjee to ensure sending Bengal mangoes to the June meet at Washington DC.

The state government is going to put up a strong show at the above meet, christened ‘Global India’. Its delegation will be led by Nirupam Sen, the minister of industries.

Among US luminaries expected to attend are Secretary of State, Condoleezza Rice, Secretary of Commerce, Carlos Gutierrez, CEO of Boeing Company, Jim McNerney, AIG VC and erstwhile Ambassador to India, Frank Wisner, and India’s Commerce Minister, Kamal Nath.

There are expectations that quite a few super-large US businesses, like Dow Chemicals and Boeing will have talks with Nirupam Sen to explore setting up facilities in the state. A keenly watching event, no doubt. [Collated from news item, ABP, Apr 6]