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This story is from February 17, 2020

Gulfood 2020: Harsimrat Badal meets UAE minister, discuss ways to increase cooperation in food processing sector

Gulfood 2020: Harsimrat Badal meets UAE minister, discuss ways to increase cooperation in food processing sector
Harsimrat Kaur Badal met UAE minister Mariam Bin Mohammed Saeed Hareb Al Muhairi in Dubai on the sidelines of Gulfood 2020 on Monday.
BATHINDA: Bathinda MP and Union food processing industries minister Harsimrat Kaur Badal met the UAE minister of state for food security Mariam Bin Mohammed Saeed Hareb Al Muhairi in Dubai on the sidelines of Gulfood 2020 on Monday.
The two ministers discussed the existing bilateral cooperation in the field of food security, with India being one of the largest food exporters to UAE.
The ministers also deliberated upon ways and means to further increase cooperation and collaboration in the sector between the two countries.
An official spokesperson said that they discussed UAE investments in food corridors in India in accordance with the vision given by the top leadership of the two countries. Both ministers mentioned that the two sides could also exchange information in new areas such as saline water agriculture.
Harsimrat Badal highlighted the enormous potential for investments in the food processing sector in India. The UAE side stays positive on opportunities for investing in various areas of food processing such as cold chains, food parks, contract farming and logistics.
Earlier in the day Harsimrat Badal addressed a business roundtable on opportunities in the food processing sector in India. More than 50 prominent business groups, traders and investors participated in the roundtable. Minister highlighted steps taken by Government of India for ease of doing business in the past few years and the investor friendly policies in food processing. She invited business groups to invest in food parks wherein government gives support of upto Rs. 50 crore. She highlighted the operation green scheme of Government of India for integrated development of tomato, onion and potato. She also emphasised that India can become a major player in organic food, especially the states in the north east. She invited UAE companies to participate in the first organic food exhibition being organized in Delhi on February 21-23, 2020.

The participants at the roundtable appreciated the various steps taken by Government of India for promoting trade and investment. The discussions also resulted in some valuable suggestions such as on single window clearances for investments, standardisation of certificates for food exports from India, recognition of organic products of India, support for SMEs in identifying new markets and marketing of Indian products.
Harsimrat Badal also held one-on-one meetings with various companies in trading of food products and investing in the sector. These included Phoenix group, Hakan Agro and Indo-Arab Spices. These were in addition to the meetings held earlier with the Lulu group, Iffco, Al Maya, Emaar, Sharaf group and Al Ghurair group.
She had inaugurated the India pavilion put together with the assistance of APEDA at Gulfood 2020. India is the largest participant in Gulfood with almost 300 companies and India's food exports to UAE stand at almost 1.8 billion dollars.
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About the Author
Neel Kamal

Neel Kamal writes about sustainable agriculture, environment, climate change for The Times of India. His incisive and comprehensive reporting about over a year-long farmers' struggle against farm laws at the borders of the national capital won laurels. He is an alumunus of Chandigarh College of Engineering and Technology.

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