ISLAMABAD - A team of Istituto Agronomico per IOltremare has completed its homework to identify the areas to grow olive trees in Pakistan. Italian investors were keen to invest in olive oil production in Pakistan, said Italian Ambassador Vincenzo Prati while talking to a group of journalists at his residence on Wednesday. Olive plantation is not an easy task. It is not just to plant a tree. If you do not have suitable soil it cannot be planted. But Pakistan has been gifted with natural climate and soil suitable for olive plantation and Potohar, NWFP & FATA are potential areas for olive production, he added. Briefing the journalists about the upcoming project of ' olive tree plantation, the project manager of Istituto Agronomico per IOltremare in Pakistan said they would provide technical assistance and support to Pakistan in agriculture sector with emphasis on the olive production. Training would be a key activity of that project, he said adding that the future of Olive cultivation in Pakistan required professionalism in order to achieve good production level and access to the new market in future. Vincenzo Prati said Pakistan needed to launch a mega project for the promotion of olive oil products for poverty alleviation and economic development in the country. The Ambassador said there was a dire need to establish interaction between the chambers of commerce of Pakistan and Italy to improve olive oil business between the two countries. Pakistan is the biggest importer of edible oil and its economy bears a great burden annually on import of this valuable commodity, he added. Therefore he said that the cultivation of olive in Pakistan would help the country meeting its edible oil needs.