Export of fruits, vegetables: High capacity scanner to be installed at Karachi airport

KARACHI: The Federal Ministry of Commerce (MoC) and Civil Aviation Authority (CAA) have agreed to install a state-of-the-art high capacity scanner at Karachi Airport for examination of the export consignments of fruits, vegetables and other perishable food items.

Installation of the scanner will enable export consignments of fruits and vegetables, especially mangoes, to be scanned in the shortest possible time with minimum human intervention, which will ensure that quality of mangoes is not affected. It will also help in removing bottlenecks and barriers to ensure smooth export operation of perishable cargo, leading to enhancement of fruit exports, especially mangoes.

Waheed Ahmed, the Patron in Chief of Pakistan Fruit and Vegetable Exporters Association (PFVA), has informed that in pursuance of PFVA’s Horticulture Vision 2030, the MoC has agreed to install modern facilities of automatic and speedy inspection of fruits’ consignments at Karachi, Lahore, Islamabad and Multan airports.

The MoC having agreed in principle on the proposal for installation of modern scanners has decided to initiate implementation of this proposal first from Karachi followed by other cities.

Recently a delegation, consisting of Executive Director General MoC Syed Rafay Bashir Shah, officials of Trade Development Authority and Chairman PFVA Shehzad Sheikh, Former Chairman Aslam Pakhali and Patron in Chief of PFVA Waheed Ahmed visited Karachi airport cargo terminal in this context. The delegation also had a meeting with the Director General CAA to look into the possibilities of installing the latest technologically advanced large capacity scanners.

The members of the delegation visited the cargo terminal where they were given a detailed briefing on inspection procedure of mango and other fruits and vegetables export consignments by the Anti-narcotics force (ANF), Customs, & ground handling agency.

Waheed Ahmed informed that during the visit for the planning of installation of modern scanners at the airport, the Executive Director General of the Federal Ministry of Commerce Syed Rafay Bashir Shah agreed to form an integrated system by merging various regulatory processes leading to one window operation.

Copyright Business Recorder, 2021