Odisha partner in Indus Food meet

BHUBANESWAR: Odisha will participate as ‘Partner State’ in the Indus Food meet 2019 to be hosted at Greater Noida in Uttar Pradesh on January 14 and 15.Chairing a preparatory meeting here on Thursday, MSME Minister Prafulla Samal said the event being organised by Trade Promotion Council of India (TPCI) and Department of Commerce is an initiative to promote the country as a strong exporter of food and beverage products.  

The second edition of Indus Food would be hosting over 600 prominent global buyers from food and beverage industry from over 60 countries.“The main aim of the event is to have the buyers on board to increase their existing presence apart from sourcing new products from the country, meet suppliers and develop new business relations with exhibitors,” he said.

Since Indus Food is likely to create a global food and beverage market place in line with SIAL, ANUGA and GulfFood, it would be a great opportunity for the Agri exporters of Odisha to showcase the products to prominent buyers from around the globe.Additional Chief Secretary, MSME, LN Gupta said as a ‘Partner State’, Odisha will be setting up its own pavilion with 30 exhibitors showcasing various processed items like spices, cashew, confectionary items and processed agro foods.

Directorate of Horticulture and APICOL along with local industry will exhibit the processed agro food items as well as spices that are produced in Odisha.The event will boost the confidence of exhibitors as they can connect with their global counterparts in their home country which will pave the path to better utilisation of the resource, Gupta said.

A seminar on ‘Potential and prospects of food processing industry in Odisha’ is also being organised during the inaugural ceremony. Besides, the business delegates going from the State will have B2B meetings with investors/entrepreneurs of other States and countries. So far, 277 entrepreneurs have registered as business/entrepreneur delegates from the State.