(Pakistan Point News - 21st Nov, 2020) From Krishnan Nayar NEW DELHI, 21st November, 2020 (WAM) – India’s Agricultural and Processed Food Products Export Development Authority, APEDA, announced today that it had completed a series of virtual buyer-seller meets with the UAE and Kuwait.
APEDA is an agency under India’s Ministry of Commerce and Industry and it facilitates the export of scheduled products through promotional activities. Organizing international buyer-seller meets, participation of exporters in trade events in importing countries, and product promotion programmes geared for specific markets have been its mandate until the outbreak of COVID-19.
A series of virtual buyer-seller meets with potential importers in the UAE and Kuwait for Indian agricultural and processed food products began in April and were concluded this month because "physical meetings and market promotion programmes were not possible during the COVID-19 pandemic period. In its endeavour to promote export of agricultural products, APEDA explored the virtual medium and continued its initiative of market promotion overseas by organizing several virtual meetings in collaboration with the Indian Missions in these countries," a press release by the Ministry of Commerce and Industry said.
Such trade promotion activities with the UAE fell in two categories, the Ministry said. One was for all APEDA Products and included virtual networking meets as well. A second category was for geographical indication, GI, products of Indian origin which are in demand in the UAE and in the US market.
The World Intellectual Property Organization, WIPO, describes GI products as those "that have a specific geographical origin and possess qualities or a reputation that are due to that origin." India’s GI products in food and agriculture include Darjeeling tea, Shahi lychee, Malabar pepper, several varieties of rice and sandalwood products.
The Ministry expressed confidence that "these events will strengthen the confidence of overseas importers in Indian agricultural products to facilitate their exports."
