As part of the United States’ government’s efforts to strengthen Pakistan’s agricultural sector, the US Agency for International Development (USAID) has been working with the Pakistani government and private sector since 2009 to expand the market of Pakistani mangoes globally. Stakeholders organised a Mango Gala in order to celebrate this long-term partnership and its many achievements. USAID/Pakistan Mission Director Jerry Bisson, Pakistan Agricultural Research Council Chairman Dr Yousaf Zafar, Federation of Pakistan Chambers of Commerce & Industry President Ghazanfar Bilour and mango growers from all over the country attended the gala. Addressing the mango sector stakeholders, Jerry Bisson said, “The US government, through USAID, is proud to partner with the Pakistan mango sector in developing new markets, while ensuring compliance with international grading standards and export protocols. We want to ensure that Pakistani mangoes are competitive on the international market. We are confident that by facilitating infrastructure upgrades, introducing new technologies and promoting market opportunities, we will increase exports to high-end markets, improving revenues for Pakistani mango farmers and exporters.” The event brought together stakeholders from the public and private sectors to investigate trends and opportunities, recognise local farmers’ innovations in and reaffirm USAID’s commitment towards uplifting Pakistan’s mango sector. USAID launched the US-Pakistan Partnership for Agricultural Market Development in February 2015 to improve the marketing capacity of four Pakistani value chains; meat, high value and off-season vegetables, mangoes and citrus. Since 2009, USAID has supported mango farmers in upgrading fruit processing technologies and addressing export protocols more efficiently. Under the project’s grant programme USAID has provided 13 state-of-the-art mango graders. These graders became operational in 2017 and will be utilised during the 2018 production season to grade export quality mangoes. This partnership has served as a catalyst to improve the quality, increase the quantity of agricultural produce and promote cooperation among farmers, processers, exporters and buyers of Pakistani agricultural products, resulting in both increased incomes and employment opportunities. Published in Daily Times, August 8th 2018.