ISLAMABAD: Federal Minister for Planning, Development and Reforms Ahsan Iqbal has said that Italy’s assistance of 20 million euro is important for making Olive Plantation Project in Pakistan a success.
Talking to Italian Ambassador Stefano Pontecrvo, who called on him here along with a delegation, Ahsan said the project was aimed at providing access to large population of the country to healthy olive oil, which was a major ingredient of edible oil. He discussed with the Italian delegation in detail the assistance Italy could provide to Pakistan in olive plantation project.
The minister said that Italy and Pakistan had bright prospects for cooperation in Olive Oil area. He urged that Italy should also focus on developing a complete value-chain for olive products.
“Pakistan has a huge potential for olive cultivation, particularly in Potohar region, FATA and Balochistan, Ahsan said and added, “Olive Plantation Project is a flagship project of Vision-2025, which is aimed at promoting value-addition. He said he desired to see it as a monument of friendship between Italy and Pakistan.
The minister called upon Italy to not only assist Pakistan in cultivation and plantation of the oil, but also in creating ecosystem for olive cultivation to make it sustainable. “The affected areas of FATA would benefit enormously from this project, as it would create livelihoods for people of these areas,” Ahsan expressed the optimism.
He also called for developing an effective monitoring system for ensuring tangible results. “There should be performance indicators on olive cultivation, tree plantation, per tree yield etc. to make the project successful,” he stated.
The minister said that Pakistan looked up to Italy for success of this project, because of its experience and expertise in olive sector. He also hoped that technical assistance by Italy would help Pakistan greatly in capacity building, and would also hone skills of Pakistanis in olive cultivation and plantation.
