India meets up virtually with UAE and Kuwait for food trade

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 the Ministry of Trade and Industry of India and promotes the export of scheduled goods through promotional activities. The organization of international buyer-seller meetings, the involvement of exporters in trade events in importing countries and product marketing initiatives targeted at particular markets were its mandate until the outbreak of COVID-19.

A series of virtual buyer-sellers met with potential importers in the UAE and Kuwait for Indian agricultural and processed food products, which started in April and ended this month because 'physical meetings and market promotion programs were not feasible during the time of the COVID-19 pandemic. 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," a press release by the Ministry of Commerce and Industry said.

Such trade promotion activities with the UAE fall into two groups, the Ministry said. One was for all APEDA Goods and also included virtual networking meetings. The second category concerned geographical indications, GI, products of Indian origin, which are in demand in the UAE and the US market.

The World Intellectual Property Organization (WIPO) defines GI products as "that have a specific geographical origin and possess qualities or a reputation that are due to that origin." Indian GI products in food and agriculture include Darjeeling tea, Shahi lychee, and Malabar pepper, many varieties of rice and sandalwood products.

The Ministry expressed hope that these events will strengthen the confidence of overseas importers in Indian agricultural products to facilitate their exports.

A WAM Report