Union Minister Piyush Goyal will co-chair the 11th Meeting of the India-UAE High-Level Joint Task Force to boost investments between the two countries.

The UAE delegation will be led by Sheikh Hamed bin Zayed Al Nahyan, a Member of the Executive Council of the Emirate of Abu Dhabi.

'A delegation led by Piyush Goyal, Union Minister of Commerce and Industry, Consumer Affairs, Food and Public Distribution and Textiles, Government of India, will be visiting the United Arab Emirates from October 5-6 to co-chair the 11th India-UAE High-Level Task Force on Investments (HLTFI), and to engage with industry representatives and interact with the UAE delegation led by Sheikh Hamed bin Zayed Al Nahyan, Member of the Executive Council of the Emirate of Abu Dhabi,' the Ministry of Commerce and Industry said in a statement.

The two delegations will discuss issues and challenges pertaining to existing investments, both, made by UAE companies in India, and investments made by Indian Companies in UAE.

The meeting will also review the outcomes achieved through the work of the Joint Task Force to date, and the two sides will continue exploring ways to facilitate investment in areas of mutual interest with the potential for economic growth.

Over the two-day visit, Minister Goyal will also hold bilateral meetings to enhance general trade, investment matters and areas of cooperation for strengthening India-UAE ties, the Ministry stated.

 

The Joint Task Force was established in 2013 as a key forum to promote trade, investment and economic ties between the UAE and India. Over the years HLTFI has emerged as an effective platform for addressing key constraints that companies from either side may face.

Notably, this will be the first meeting post the one-year celebration of the India-UAE Comprehensive Economic Partnership Agreement (CEPA) signing, the Ministry added.

South Africa has culled about 7.5 million chickens in an effort to contain dozens of outbreaks of two separate strains of avian influenza that threaten to create a shortage of eggs and poultry for consumers, the government and national poultry association said Tuesday. At least 205,000 chickens have died from bird flu in at least 60 separate outbreaks across the country, with more than half of those outbreaks in Gauteng province, which includes the country's biggest city, Johannesburg, and the capital, Pretoria.

 

Some grocery stores in Johannesburg were limiting the number of eggs customers were allowed to buy this week — in some cases to one carton of six eggs — and the government acknowledged there were 'supply constraints.'

 

The government announced approximately 2.5 million chickens bred for their meat had been culled. The South African Poultry Association said another 5 million egg-laying chickens had been culled. The 7.5 million birds represented about 20-30% of South Africa's total chicken stock, South African Poultry Association general manager Izaak Breitenbach said.

 

The government was moving to fast-track new import permits for companies to bring in eggs from other countries 'to ensure sufficient supplies for consumers,' Agriculture Minister Thoko Didiza said. Her ministry is also considering embarking on a vaccination program to halt the bird flu outbreaks and said the number of farms with cases was increasing.

 

Neighboring Namibia has banned chicken meat and egg imports from South Africa.

 

The outbreaks are hitting an industry already struggling due to an electricity crisis. Breitenbach said South Africa has had three major bird flu outbreaks in recent years, and the latest ones were 'by far the worst,' already costing the industry losses of at least $25 million.

 

Vaccines would need to be imported and hopefully be ready to use in two to six months, he said.

 

Wilhelm Mare, chairman of the poultry group in the South African Veterinary Association, said as many as 8.5 million egg-laying chickens could be affected and more than 10 million birds overall.

 

'It tells me we're going to have problems with this situation for quite a while,' Mare said, calling it 'catastrophic' for the industry.

 

The United States' Centers for Disease Control and Prevention said last month that bird flu outbreaks were on the rise globally, with more than 21,000 outbreaks across the world between 2013 and 2022, but the CDC notes on its website only one human infection during 2022, and assesses the general risk to public health from the disease as 'low.'

 

The U.S. grappled with similar circumstances to South Africa in 2022, with bird flu contributing to soaring egg prices nationwide.

 

Eggs are an important and affordable source of protein in South Africa, but prices have risen steadily this year and the shortages caused by bird flu were expected to push prices up again and add to high food inflation for South Africans.

 

The chicken industry in South Africa has already been hit hard this year by power shortages, which have resulted in planned regular electricity blackouts to save energy, but badly impacting businesses.

 

South African farmers said in January they had been forced to cull nearly 10 million young chicks, as Africa's most advanced economy experienced record blackouts at the start of the year, causing production to slow dramatically and leading to overcrowding on chicken farms.

 

The poultry industry has also lobbied the South African government to impose permanent duties on countries like Brazil, Denmark, Poland, Spain, and the United States for what the industry refers to as the 'dumping' of cheap chicken products in South Africa, threatening local businesses.

The Department for Promotion of Industry and Internal Trade (DPIIT), Ministry of Commerce and Industry and GatiShakti Vishwavidyalaya (GSV) entered into collaboration today to advance India's infrastructure and logistics sectors. Under this Memorandum of Understanding (MoU), GSV shall be the nodal agency across India to design, develop and deliver courses and curriculum related to PM Gati Shakti National Master Plan and National Logistics Policy at various centres in different states.

 

Union Minister of Commerce & Industry, Consumer Affairs, Food & Public Distribution, and Textiles, Sh. Piyush Goyal said that PM GatiShakti will become the planning tool for the entire world. He acknowledged the importance of GSV that offers skill development and capacity building of logistics professionals paving way for formalisation in the logistics sector. More than 16 Central Ministries, including NITI Aayog, CBC came together for the signing of MoU. This collaboration shall mark the great culmination of three visions, i.e., smarter planning and implementation; structured specialised development; and capacity building. 

 

Shri Goyal said that it will bring academic vigour to PM GatiShakti approach leading to reduced logistics cost, efficient logistics, and fostering a competitive business ecosystem. He said that this will lead to a virtuous cycle of growth and achievement of the vision of Amrit Kaal. This MoU is scripting a new chapter in Bharat logistics and infrastructure story. This shall give momentum to comprehensive logistics sector development and embarks Bharat’s journey to become a Vishwaguru.

 

Union Minister for Railways, Communications and Electronics & Information Technology and also the Chancellor of the Gati Shakti Vishwavidyalaya, Sh. Ashwini Vaishnaw, spoke about the importance of the industry focussed and innovation driven university offering courses on railway, metro and high-speed railways. He highlighted the development of focussed programs for specific industry/ sector. For instance five courses on railway have been developed, including  with a focus on tracks technology, rail-wheel interaction, thermodynamics, signalling systems, etc. Focussed courses offered at GSV will make students ready for future workforce- 15000 students will be trained at GSV to get assured jobs in the aviation industry. GSV will ensure Indian skill development needs are aligned with global standards.

 

The MoU was signed by the Vice-Chancellor, Gati Shakti Vishwavidyalaya, Prof. Manoj Choudhary, and Joint Secretary, Logistics Division, DPIIT, Sh. E. Srinivas in the august presence of the respective Ministers, Sh. Piyush Goyal and Sh. Ashwini Vaishnaw.

 

Special Secretary, DPIIT, Ms. Sumita Dawra highlighted the importance of India improving its logistics performance ranking to global standards by 2030. The transformative reforms of Government of India for multimodal Infrastructure development to facilitate Ease of Doing Business and Ease of Living, and also facilitate EXIM trade related logistics, Government’s flagship initiative namely PM GatiShakti National Master Plan was launched by Hon’ble Prime Minister of India on 13th October 2021. This is for building Next Generation Infrastructure and developing a globally competitive logistics ecosystem. 

 

GatiShakti Vishwavidyalaya is the brainchild and vision of the Prime Minister, Shri Narendra Modi. The idea was to utilise the existing infrastructure and resources, augment it suitably, so that it can be used for creating professional courses for logistics. It is India’s first Railway University and only third such in the whole world after Russia and China, which was dedicated to the nation in December 2018.

 

PM Gati Shakti Master Plan is a critical tool that also integrates economic and infrastructural planning with socio-economic development. In the last two years, remarkable progress in terms of development of the digital platform (NMP) and individual portals, data and quality management on these portals, onboarding of Ministries and States, and training and capacity building, besides usage, has been made.

 

As on date, 1463 data layers of Central Ministries and States/UTs have been uploaded on the GIS-data based National Master Plan portal. 39 individual portals for line Ministries and 36 States/UT portals have been developed and integrated.  Twenty-two out of the above mentioned 39-line Ministries are Social Sector Ministries, which have also been onboarded onto the PM GatiShakti in last few months. This has paved way for enabling comprehensive socio-economic development in the spirit of Area Development Approach, across the country.

 

To complement the PM GatiShakti NMP, the National Logistics Policy (NLP) was launched on 17th September 2022 by Hon’ble PM, to address the soft infrastructure and logistics sector development aspect, inter alia, including process reforms, improvement in logistics services, digitization, human resource development and skilling. The NLP is a step in the right direction to drive economic growth and business competitiveness of the country through an integrated, seamless, efficient, reliable, green, sustainable and cost-effective logistics network. This will reduce logistics cost and improve logistics performance.

 

National Logistics Policy, under the Comprehensive Logistics Action Plan (CLAP) talks of creating a Logistics Human Resources Development & Capacity Building Strategy under which competency frameworks for formalization of logistics professionals are being developed, steps are being taken to mainstream logistics and supply chain in course curriculums in different institutions.

 

Significant progress has been made across key action areas such as services improvement; development of indigenous data-based decision support systems, digital integration of processes; tracking and tracing of 100% EXIM containerized cargo; State engagement; human resource development; logistics cost reduction; improved EXIM logistics; etc.

 

GSV shall co-work with the Logistics Division to conceptualize and establish 'knowledge centres' of PM GatiShakti in different states and institutions which shall serve as repository of best practices of PM GatiShakti approach, best practices in logistics, centres of further research and innovation in logistics. Using the 'hub and spoke' model, and leveraging infrastructure of Central Training Institutes and State Administrative Training Institutes, GSV shall co – work with the Logistics Division and build a repository of resource persons, both Public and Private Sector who have wide practical experience in logistics policy and sector.

 

Gati Shakti Vishwavidyalaya (GSV) Vadodara was established as a Central University through an Act of Parliament in 2022, for creating best in class manpower and talent for the entire transportation and logistics sectors. This Central University is sponsored by the Ministry of Railways, Govt. of India and is mandated to work across railways, shipping, ports, highways, roads, waterways, and aviation etc.

 

Following a demand-driven curriculum and leveraging state of the art infrastructure of all the Centralized Training Institutes of Indian Railways, the GSV shall create a resource pool of professionals across technology, economics, management and policy comprising multidisciplinary teaching (bachelors/masters/doctoral), executive training and research. GSV shall also undertake training for Indian Railways probationers and serving officers. Being an Industry-driven and Innovation-led university, GSV has a very strong focus on collaborations with leading institutions and industries across the world.

 

The outcomes of usage of PM GatiShakti NMP by Ministries and States/ UTs in the last 2 years, is demonstrating the variety and scale of NMP in planning infrastructure. It is important to share learnings of the benefits of using PM GatiShakti NMP among various stakeholders, for which an institution such as the GSV shall play a pivotal role.

 

International interest that PM GatiShakti is generating can also be taken forward through the collaboration with GSV which can serve as a knowledge centre for GatiShakti and logistics infrastructure related planning .

Ahead of the resumption of negotiations for a groundbreaking Free Trade Agreement (FTA), officials of India and Peru are set to meet virtually on October 10, to talk about the agreement.

 

The negotiations of the FTA which is expected to strengthen bilateral trade and investment ties between the two nations is scheduled to take place in the first week of December.

 

During her visit to India in August the Vice Minister of Foreign Trade, Teresa Mera Gomez, had met with her counterpart and the two sides agreed to resume negotiations.

 

Background

During an interview with Financial Express Online on the sidelines of India-LAC Conclave in August, Peru’s Vice Minister of Trade, Teresa Mera Gomez, expressed optimism about the upcoming sixth round of negotiations, building on the progress made during the fifth round in Lima before the pandemic. The FTA seeks to enhance the economies of both nations without creating competition.

 

Recent developments at the India-LAC Conclave in New Delhi have paved the way for the FTA revival. India’s Commerce Secretary, Sunil Barthwal, has also earlier confirmed the continuation of FTA talks, highlighting the identification of key collaboration areas. Both countries are keen to expand trade, especially in agricultural products and essential minerals like gold, zinc, and recently discovered lithium.

 

The comprehensive FTA covers a wide range of aspects, including access to markets, trade in services, movement of professionals, and investment facilitation. Peru is India’s third-largest export destination in the Latin America and Caribbean region, making this pact strategically important. Key negotiation topics include trade remedies, rules for product origins, technical barriers, dispute resolution, and customs procedures.

 

The groundwork for this agreement was laid in 2017 during official visits by Indian government representatives to Peru. With a diplomatic relationship spanning six decades, Peru is positioned as a gateway to the larger LAC region, providing Indian investors with opportunities for growth.

 

Peru’s status as a leading global producer of minerals such as gold, silver, copper, tin, zinc, and lead has strengthened trade ties. Over the years, India has seen increased mineral imports from Peru, solidifying economic connections.

 

Trade extends to agricultural products, including Red Globe table grapes, blueberries, avocados, and quinoa. Peru’s mangoes are also poised to enter the Indian market, further enhancing trade relations.

 

A significant development is the Chancay Port Terminal, a multifaceted hub for various cargo types and a Special Economic Zone (ZEE). With a $3 billion investment, the port promises technological, industrial, and logistical advancements, aligning with Peru’s growth goals.

 

Despite fluctuations, bilateral trade between India and Peru demonstrates resilience. In 2022-23, the trade value stood at $3.11 billion, with India exporting motor vehicles, iron and steel products, and cars, while Peru imports bulk minerals, gold, crude oil, and fertilizers.

 

Peru is actively seeking investments in sectors such as hospitality, entertainment, healthcare, and more.

India's imports of edible oil fell 19% in September from August's record as refiners curtailed purchases of palm oil by 26% after inventories jumped to a record, five dealers told Reuters.

 

Lower purchases by the world's biggest importer of vegetable oils could lead to higher stocks of palm oil in key producers Indonesia and Malaysia, weighing on benchmark futures.

 

India's total edible oil imports in September fell to 1.5 million metric tons, including 830,000 tons of palm oil, average estimates from dealers show.

 

'Edible oil inventories have gone up to all-time high levels because of record imports in July and August,' said Rajesh Patel, managing partner at edible oil trader and broker GGN Research.

 

'That's why buyers are taking a pause now.'

 

Domestic stocks of vegetable oil jumped to 3.7 million tons by Sept. 1 from 2.4 million a year ago, says trade body Solvent Extractors' Association of India (SEA), which is likely to publish its data on September imports by mid-October.

 

Sunflower oil imports fell by 15% from a month earlier to stand at 310,000 tons, while soyoil imports edged up 2% to 365,000 tons, dealers estimated.

 

India buys palm oil mainly from Indonesia, Malaysia and Thailand, while it imports soyoil and sunflower oil from Argentina, Brazil, Russia and Ukraine.

 

'Drier weather in June and August, coupled with a slow start to planting, raised concerns about domestic oilseeds production,' said Ashwini Bansod, head of commodities research at Phillip Capital India Pvt Ltd.

 

'This led to higher import demand in July and August ahead of festivals.'

 

But improved rainfall in September eased concerns about a sharper decline in oilseed output, the analyst added.

 

August was the driest month on record with a 36% deficit in rainfall, though it revived in September for India to receive 13% more than the normal.

 

Imports of edible oil could fall further in October as stocks are more than enough to cater to festival season demand, said Patel of GGN Research.

 

The Government of India today notified the constitution of the National Turmeric Board. The National Turmeric Board will focus on the development and growth of turmeric and turmeric products in the country.

 

The National Turmeric Board will provide leadership on turmeric related matters, augment the efforts, and facilitate greater coordination with Spices Board and other Government agencies in development and growth of the turmeric sector.

 

There is significant potential and interest world over on the health and wellness benefits of turmeric, which the Board will leverage to further increase awareness and consumption, develop new markets internationally to increase exports, promote research and development into new products, and develop on our traditional knowledge for value-added turmeric products. It will especially focus on capacity building and skill development of turmeric growers for harnessing greater benefits out of value addition. The Board will also promote quality and food safety standards and adherence to such standards. The Board will also take steps to further safeguard and usefully exploit turmeric’s full potential for humanity.

 

The activities of the Board will contribute towards greater well-being and prosperity of the turmeric growers through their focussed and dedicated attention to the sector and the larger value addition closer to the farms, which would provide better realisation to the growers for their produce. The Board’s activities into research, market development, increasing consumption, and value addition will also ensure that our growers and processors continue to maintain their pre-eminent position in the global markets as exporters of high-quality turmeric and turmeric products.

 

The Board shall have a Chairperson to be appointed by the Central Government, members from the Ministry of AYUSH, Departments of Pharmaceuticals, Agriculture & Farmers Welfare, Commerce & Industry of the Union Government, senior State Government representatives from three states (on rotation basis), select national/state institutions involved in research, representatives of turmeric farmers and exporters, and have a Secretary to be appointed by the Department of Commerce.

 

India is the largest producer, consumer and exporter of turmeric in the world. In the year 2022-23, an area of 3.24 lakh ha was under turmeric cultivation in India with a production of 11.61 lakh tonnes (over 75% of global turmeric production). More than 30 varieties of Turmeric are grown in India and it is grown in over 20 states in the country. The largest producing states of Turmeric are Maharashtra, Telangana, Karnataka and Tamil Nadu.

 

India has more than 62% share of world trade in turmeric. During 2022-23, 1.534 lakh tonnes of turmeric and turmeric products valued at 207.45 million USD was exported by more than 380 exporters The leading export markets for Indian Turmeric are Bangladesh, UAE, USA and Malaysia. With the focused activities of the Board, it is expected that turmeric exports will reach USD 1 Billion by 2030.

The Nagaland Health and Family Welfare Department has mandated that all Food Business Operators (FBOs) operating within the state must acquire or renew their Food Safety and Standards Authority of India (FSSAI) licence and registration certificate for their food establishments by October 31, 2023.

 

This directive aligns with the Food Safety and Standards (Licencing and Registration of Food Businesses) Regulations, 2011, and emphasises the importance of adherence to food safety standards.

 

A spokesperson from FSSAI stated, 'All Food Business Operators in the country are registered or licensed in accordance with the procedures laid down under the Food Safety and Standards (Licencing and Registration of Food Businesses) Regulations, 2011.

 

'All FBOs are required to adhere to Sanitary and Hygienic Practices as laid down under Schedule 4 of the said regulations. FBOs may also refer to the inspection checklists applicable to their food business which are available at FoSCoS Homepage,' the spokesperson added.

 

Under Section 31 of the Food Safety and Standards Act 2006, no person shall commence or carry on any food business except having a valid FSSAI licence/registration. FSSAI Licence/Registration is premises-based and the procedure for applying is completely online through the Food Safety Compliance System - FoSCoS portal.

The UN Conference on Trade and Development (UNCTAD) upped India's 2023 economic growth forecast to 6.6% from 6% predicted in April. However, it expects the country's growth to slow to 6.2% in 2024.

 

In its trade and development report issued Wednesday, the UNCTAD said its expects growth of the world economic output to decelerate to 2.4% in 2023 but register a small uptick to 2.5% in 2024.

 

This comes a day after the World Bank projected India's economy to grow 6.3% in FY24. India's FY23 economic growth was 7.2%.

 

The multilateral body called for a change in policy direction, including by leading central banks, and accompanying institutional reforms promised during the Covid-19 crisis to avert a lost decade.

 

'The global economy is flying at 'stall speed', with projected growth in 2023 of 2.4%, meeting the conventional criteria for a global recession. The entire global economy, except East and Central Asia, has slowed since 2022,' UNCTAD said.

 

Highlighting that globally, the post-pandemic recovery is divergent, it said: 'While some economies, including Brazil, China, India, Japan, Mexico, Russia and the United States, have demonstrated resilience in 2023, others face more formidable challenges'.

 

In India, the external sector-alongside the private and government sector-has contributed to domestic growth, partly helped by many countries redirecting trade flows away from the Russian Federation, with which India maintains a direct relationship, the Geneva-based organisation said.

 

While growth in 2022 moved back in line with pre-pandemic rates, it is expected to continue into next year, according to the report.

 

'However, other indicators still suggest caution: with rates of unemployment still standing at 8.5% in June 2023, employment remains disappointingly low by historical standards. Inequality has also significantly increased - as suggested by data on real wages and the labour share-which could hinder growth,' UNCTAD said.

 

It highlighted that India's 10 largest firms account for 8% of its total exports, although the total number of exporting firms exceeded 123,000 in 2021.

 

As per the report, South-South trade accounted for around 54% of South's total trade in 2022.

Cote dÍvoire (Ivory Coast) has firmed up plans to become a rice surplus country in the next few years to overcome a perennial shortfall in domestic supplies and production. It has reached out to India to help it in achieving the production and milling target.

 

The country has sought India’s participation and investments as part of its national rice strategy, which was launched recently.

 

'We are looking at investments from India to promote rice production and milling capacities. Indian investors can establish joint ventures for the purpose. India can use Côte dÍvoire as a base to cater to African countries instead of exporting rice from India,' a top official of the country’s rice regulator said.

 

Milling target

'We have set a target to mill 5 million tonnes of paddy and we are setting up 50 mills (with a capacity of 25,000 tonnes each) in different parts of the country. India’s Exim Bank is already helping us in expanding the milling capacities,' Aboubakary Traore, Director of Valorisation Support of ADERIZ (Rice Development Agency of Cote dI’voire, said.

 

Speaking to a team of Indian journalists on the sidelines of SARA (International Exhibition of Agriculture and Animal Resources), he said the country required 1.9 million tonnes of rice for a population of 29 million people, with a per capita consumption of about 84 kg. 

 

'We are producing 1.2 million tonnes, while meeting the remaining gap by importing from countries such as India, China, Thailand and Vietnam,' he said.

 

The bulk (about 50 per cent) of the imports come from India. Of a total of six lakh tonnes of rice imported in the first half of 2023, India’s imports contributed 3.75 lakh tonnes.

 

Now that India has curbed rice exports - the latter banned white rice and imposed 20 per cent duty on parboiled rice-, the country is looking at plugging the gap by tapping the other rice exporting countries.

 

Prices up post-Indian curbs

The Indian curbs have pushed up prices in the retail market. 'Prices went up to 800 francs (local currency), up by about 250 francs,' he said. Globally, rice prices increased by $100 a tonne after India’s curbs to meet its food security and cool rising foodgrain prices. 

 

With the country falling short of its rice requirements, the West African country created ADERIZ five years ago to promote cultivation and plan for all associated activities (seed development and post-harvest crop management etc).

 

Though a predominantly agro-economy with over two-thirds of people engaged in agricultural activities, the country’s focus is on cocoa and rubber. In order to become self-sufficient in rice and emerge as a net exporter of the commodity, the government introduced a National Strategy for the Development of the Rice Sector (SNDR) in 2012 and ADERIZ in 2018 to expand the rice production areas across the country.

Kendrapara’s famous sweet Rasabali received the geographical indication (GI) tag on Tuesday, bringing cheer to the people of the coastal district. Kendrapara Rasabali Makers’ Association and the Rural Infrastructure Development and Employment applied for GI tag for the sweet in 2021. The mouth-watering delicacy originates from the 262-year-old Baladevjew temple at Ichhapur on the outskirts of Kendrapara town. It consists of deep-fried flattened reddish-brown patties of cheese that are soaked in thickened and sweetened milk.

 

President of the association Baishava Panda said many people in the district earn their livelihood by selling Rasabali. 'We are delighted with the recognition as the GI tag will lend a distinct identity to the product and nobody can misuse the name to market similar sweets.'

 

Rasabali is one of the most delicious sweets in the country. But due to poor promotion and export facilities, it is not being marketed properly. The GI registration will help boost export of Rasabali and also put Kendrapara on the global map. 'In 2021, a team had prepared a dossier in support of our claim for GI tag for the sweet. We submitted the dossier to the state government which in turn sent it to the office of Geographical Indications Registry in Chennai,' informed Panda.

 

Similarly, the executive officer of Baladevjew temple Balabhadra Patri said Rasabali is one of the main Bhogs in the shrine which was constructed during the Maratha rule in Odisha in 1761. The GI tag for the sweet would differentiate it from competing products in national and international markets.

 

Expressing happiness over the GI tag, Rasabali maker of Kendrapara Souri Sahoo said the unique sweet will now acquire more prominence in the market. Besides, the tag would help the makers get best remunerative price. 'The GI certification would also stop adulteration of Rasabali and thereby, the authenticated sweet will fetch better prices,' he added.