Quality of Italy’s olive best in the world: Ambassador Andreas Ferrarese

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Islamabad: Ambassador of Italy to Pakistan Andreas Ferrarese said this week said that the quality of Italian olive was the best in the world.

In an interview he suggested that Pakistan could import olive from Italy. Olives are an integral part of the entire Mediterranean civilisation without which life and culture will be incomplete, he added.

The envoy stressed that Italy had always supported Pakistan’s journey in the field and “we are happy to continue with the aim of developing a sustainable, modern and rich olive culture.”

He said it would not only provide quality edible oil for the people in Pakistan but would also help reduce the import bill. Rather, “we look forward to the times when Pakistan would be among the leading olive producing and exporting countries in the world”.

Ambassador Andreas Ferrarese said that Italy was playing a vital role in promoting “olive culture” in Pakistan for improving the olive value chain.

He said Pakistan had all the potential to cultivate olive and Italy would cooperate with the South Asian nation with an assistance of €1.5 million.

He elaborated that the olive culture meant the supply value chain and processing, without which development in the sector would not be easy. Replying to a question, the envoy revealed that the “olive culture” project worth €1.5 million would be executed over a period of 26 months in suitable areas by Ciheam Bari International in cooperation with the Ministry of National Food Security and Research through the Pakistan Oilseed Department.

“It represents the continuation of all work done by Italy in the past, with a holistic approach encompassing all stages and stakeholders,” he said.

The ambassador was of the view that Pakistan had a lot of potential for olive production and it could earn foreign exchange by increasing the olive output and using it for commercial purposes.