India seeks New Zealands help for developing cold
storages
(http://news.in.msn.com/business/india-seeks-new-zealand%E2%80%99s-help-for-developing-cold-storages) (07.10.2013)
Reuters
New Delhi: India has sought
expertise from New Zealand in development of cold storages in the country,
where fruits and vegetables worth thousands of crores go waste every year due
to inadequate storage infrastructure. This was one of the important issues
discussed by Indian officials with their New Zealand counterpart during their
meeting in Wellington on 29th and 30th July.
India has 37 million tonne
opportunity for developing cold storage. We have asked New Zealands expertise
in this matter, a senior official in the commerce ministry said. The official
said since New Zealand is a major producer of fruits and dairy products, it has
expertise and modern technology in setting up of cold storages.
Agriculture and Food Processing
Industries Minister Sharad Pawar has recently said that the value of annual
wastage of fruits and vegetables was estimated at Rs 13,309 crore. However, if
the wastage value of rice, wheat, cereals and others are taken into account, it
would go up to Rs 44,000 crore a year.
As per estimates, there is
requirement of about 60 million tonnes of cold storage in the country against
the present capacity of around 29 million tonnes. The government also provides
financial assistance for construction of cold chain infrastructure. Further,
India has also suggested New Zealand to invest in the dairy sector.
New Zealand dairy sector can invest
in India to produce dairy items that India does not produce, the official
added. Besides, the country has sought greater market access to export items
like gems and jewellery, pharmaceutical, engineering goods, leather products
and sports goods in order to increase bilateral trade between the countries.
Both the countries are also
negotiating a Comprehensive Economic Cooperation Agreement since 2010. The
broad-based free trade agreement proposes to cover goods, services and
investment. The bilateral trade between the two countries stood at meagre
$998.68 million in 2012-13. It was $1.07 billion in the previous fiscal.
The FTA is important for India as it
hopes to get more work visas for its professionals especially teachers,
healthcare providers, technicians, IT experts, architects and hospitality
providers in New Zealand. New Zealand wants access to Indian markets for its
agri products like apple, kiwi, dairy and also wine.