The crucial G20 Agriculture Ministers' Meeting would be held in Hyderabad from June 15 to 17, Union Tourism Minister G Kishan Reddy said on Monday.

 

Talking to reporters here, he said three meetings of the agriculture working group were held earlier in Indore, Chandigarh and Varanasi. The final meeting is in Hyderabad. Besides India, 29 other countries will participate in the three-day event. G20 countries including Argentina, Australia, Brazil, China, Canada, South Africa, Indonesia, Russia, Saudi Arabia, Turkey, the United States and the United Kingdom would attend. The ministers of nine guest countries, including Bangladesh, Egypt, Mauritius, Oman, Nigeria, Spain and Vietnam would also participate.

 

'The agriculture ministers of 29 countries and high-level officers are going to participate in this meeting with Hyderabad as the venue. It will be held from 15th to 17th,' he said.

 

Besides the 29 countries, key persons from 10 international organisations would also participate in the meetings. The main agenda of the meeting includes food security, sustainable agriculture for nutritional food, agriculture development under the leadership of women, agriculture and biodiversity, and changes needed in agriculture sector to face climate change. The Union tourism minister said the G20 meeting of ministers on tourism would be held in Goa on June 19, 20, 21 and 22. He said that the third G20 tourism working group meeting was successfully held recently in Srinagar despite the threat of terror groups and objections raised by Pakistan and others. A declaration on tourism, named 'Goa roadmap' would be adopted at the G20 ministers' meeting, the minister said. Reddy, also minister for culture, said the final meeting of ministers on culture would be organised in Varanasi from July 24-26.

 

The Minister of State for Foreign Trade of UAE, Thani Al Zeyoudi on Monday said that the trade ties between New Delhi and Abu Dhabi have proliferated following the Comprehensive Economic Partnership Agreement (CEPA).

 

'Trade ties with India have grown very rapidly following CEPA. There are several areas where we are looking to provide a further fillip to our robust trading ties,' said Thani Al Zeyoudi, Minister of State for Foreign Trade at a joint press conference in Delhi today. Highlighting the central goals of India-UAE CEPA at the press conference today, the UAE minister said that one of them was to increase the flow of goods and services between the two countries.

 

'One of the central goals of the UAE-India CEPA was to increase the flow of goods and services between the UAE and India - and, by doing so, stimulate key export sectors, drive industrial output and kick-start an exciting new era of progress,' the UAE Minister said.

 

It is over a year since the implementation of the UAE-India Comprehensive Economic Partnership Agreement.

 

The India-UAE CEPA is a landmark free trade agreement (FTA) between the two countries. It covers trade in goods, services, investment, and other areas of economic cooperation.

 

The CEPA entered into force on May 1, 2022, and is expected to increase the total value of bilateral trade in goods to over USD 100 billion and trade in services to over USD 15 billion within five years.

 

The CEPA is the first deep and full-fledged FTA signed by India with any country in the past decade.

 

Speaking further, Al Zeyoudi added that it's a chance to reflect on the two nations' remarkable journey together.

 

'Our initial figures suggest that, in the first 12 months of the CEPA, bilateral non-oil trade reached 50.5 billion dollars. That is a 5.8 per cent increase on the corresponding period a year earlier. For context, these figures came amid a sharp decline in global trade in Q3 and Q4 in 2022 - proving that we have created a real nexus of growth,' he underlined during the presser in Delhi.

 

The new partnerships created, the new customers attained, and the new friendships forged will guarantee that this prosperous alliance continues to benefit the citizens of both nations, he added, saying he looks forward to the next steps.

 

Earlier today Union Commerce Minister Piyush Goyal said that the Reserve Bank of India and Central Bank of the UAE are in active dialogue for a Rupee-Dirham trade mechanism.

 

'Talks for in Rupee-dirham are progressing at a fast pace and the Finance Ministry of India is very supportive of it,' Goyal said, addressing the joint meeting of the joint committee of the India-UAE Comprehensive Economic Partnership Agreement (CEPA).

 

'If we recall in March 2022 when we got talking about how we can make business more attractive between the two countries and how we can help our business persons reduce operating costs and transaction costs. Dialogue of the Rupee-Dirham trade was actually sown in that meeting. It's just about a year since then, but both countries have made significant progress.'

 

He, however, did not mention any timeline for the finalization of the Rupee-Dirham-based trade mechanism. 

The G20 Agriculture Ministers’ meeting to be held in Hyderabad from June 15-17 will be attended by Alvaro Lario, President of the International Fund for Agricultural Development (IFAD).  According to IFAD, Lario will share IFAD’s vision for development with G20 leaders and make the case for investing in rural communities as the most cost-effective way to improve global food security and support global stability. 

 

While in India, he will also meet Minister of Finance Nirmala Sitharaman and Minister of Agriculture Narendra Singh Tomar. India is an important partner for IFAD, and IFAD has worked in and with India for more than 40 years.

In the first twelve months of the India-UAE Comprehensive Economic Partnership Agreement (CEPA), bilateral non-oil trade reached $50.5 billion, up 5.8% on year.

 

The two sides have more than doubled their non-petroleum trade target to $100 billion by 2030 from the earlier anticipated $48 billion, commerce and industry minister Piyush Goyal said on Monday after the first meeting of the joint committee of India-UAE CEPA. He also said that India is hopeful of an early outcome on the Rupee-Dirham trade with the UAE.

 

In the first three months of the year, total bilateral trade reached $13.2 billion, 16.3% higher than the previous quarter.

 

'There can be little question that our deal is having the desired impact,' said UAE’s Minister of State for Foreign Trade, Thani bin Ahmed Al Zeyoudi.

 

In the first three months of the year, total bilateral trade reached $13.2 billion, 16.3% higher than the previous quarter.

 

'For context, these figures came amid a sharp decline in global trade in the third and fourth quarters in 2022, proving that we have created a real nexus of growth,' Al Zeyoudi said.

 

The re-exports from India rose 24.5% in the first quarter, which as per Al Zeyoudi,

demonstrates the UAE’s role as a gateway to the world and an important bridge between Indian exporters and the markets of Middle East, Europe and Africa.

 

The CEPA was implemented on May 1 last year.

 

'Significant decision has been taken to iron out issues that the businesses had faced…We have a mutually agreed (for a) target of $100 billion bilateral trade by 2030,' Goyal said.

The Chief Economic Advisor to the Government of India, Dr V Anantha Nageswaran, on Monday said the real GDP growth for the year ending March 2023 was 7.2 per cent, which surpassed expectations, as the underlying momentum in the economy was quite strong. During an interaction with the Industry, organised by the Associated Chambers of Commerce and Industry of India (ASSOCHAM) here, Nageswaran explained the current state of the Indian economy and said the government was optimistic about its medium-term performance.

 

Addressing the gathering, he said while goods exports were on the weaker side in 2022-23 due to the war in Ukraine and oil price rise, services exports did very well for the country.

 

'We have a good story to share about the Indian economy. The real GDP growth for the year ending March 2023 was 7.2 per cent, surpassing expectations. The underlying momentum in the economy is quite strong. We expect the final number to be even higher than 7.2 per cent,' Nageswaran said.

 

He pointed out that the data shows that India's 4th quarter GDP of 6.1 per cent was actually much better than several other countries at this point.

 

Talking about the wholesale price index's deduction, he said it was not a drawback nor a drag on growth but 'it is actually going to lower input cost for our businesses as well'.

 

'The Wholesale price index is coming down because of the slowdown in oil prices and the slowdown in food prices and in fact it is now negative. So people think when the wholesale prices come down, it may lead to a slowdown in GDP growth. Yes. We are expecting 6.5 per cent GDP growth which is lower than last year's 7.2 per cent. But that is the trend growth that India will continue to achieve. In fact this number can be higher if the export sector also performs, but that is going to be a challenge,' he said.

 

The CEA acknowledged that merchandise export growth was something which needed continued efforts to maintain in order to keep our market share or gain the market share.

 

'That's where the industry has to invest in R&D, has to do better marketing etc and diversify our product range and focus on quality. It's going to be a hard grind for the rest of the decade because global growth is not going to be very strong in the rest of the decade but services sector growth is surprisingly doing well for us because many companies now rely on India not only for IT enabled services,' but others as well, he said.

 

Global companies rely on India even for accounting, risk management compliance, back office work and their dependence on India through global capability centres (GCC) have become much wider, he added.

 

He claimed that macroeconomic management in India has been prudent during pandemic when compared to other advanced nations.

 

'The overall macroeconomic management in India has been prudent and sensible, avoiding overstretching ourselves during the pandemic. This has contributed to our stable growth and inflation management,' he said.

 

Nageswaran said while the country has made significant strides, 'we must remain vigilant and continue our efforts' towards growth and development.

 

'While progress has been made, there is still work to be done,' he said.

 

He pointed out that there are nearly one lakh recognised Startups in India out of which over 43,000 are led by women.

India and the EU have identified five areas including Carbon Border Adjustment Mechanism (CBAM) and foreign direct investment that would be discussed in their bilateral Trade and Technology Council.

 

Officials said that the two sides have established a work stream under the India-EU TTC wherein issues have been clubbed under five broad areas—market access, World Trade Organization, FDI, CBAM and global value chains. The work stream will address key issues in these areas.

 

'We have established a work stream under the TTC and issues have been clubbed under five broad areas to help address them in a focused manner,' said an official.

 

The TTC is a platform to address key trade, technology and security challenges of the two sides and its first meeting was held last month in Brussels. It is co-chaired on the Indian side by the ministers of external affairs, commerce and industry, and electronics and information technology.

 

On the EU side, the executive vice-presidents of the European Commission in charge of digital technology and trade co-chair it.

 

As per the official, one round of talks have happened on CBAM, which will kick in from October when domestic companies from seven carbon-intensive sectors including steel, cement, fertiliser, aluminium, and hydrocarbon products would have to seek certificates from the EU authorities to comply with the CBAM norms.

 

'Talks on CBAM are on with the EU,' the official said.

 

India has asked the EU to recognise its Carbon Credit Trading Scheme being finalised by the power ministry.

 

Though the EU has said that CBAM is a part of their climate action efforts, countries like India are of the view that it is a trade-related measure. India has told the WTO that carbon border measures are being selectively applied to 'trade-exposed industries' such as steel, aluminium, chemicals, plastics, polymers, chemicals and fertilisers, which reflects the underlying competitiveness concerns driving such measures.

CSIR-CFTRI, in an effort to ensure total food safety, demonstrated the detection of adulterants in edible oils, spice products, sweets, milk, honey and so on. This was through use of analytical instruments used by food safety laboratories such as EA-IRMS, LC-MS/MS, GC, HPLC, GC-MS/MS, ICP-AES.

 

The institute also houses the Food Safety and Protection department. Its dual focus is on food protection and infestation control. The other is on food safety and analytical quality control lab.

 

At a recently-concluded World Food Safety Day 2023 function, observed annually on June 7, this year’s theme was Food Standards Save Lives. In view of this, CSIR-Central Food Technological Research Institute, Mysuru, a constituent laboratory of Council of Scientific and Industrial Research, Ministry of Science and Technology, Government of India, celebrated the event on its campus for the benefit of students.

Here CSIR-CFTRI went on to create awareness among people on food safety,  food-borne diseases such as diarrhoea to cancers and fatality due to unsafe food.

 

It was the World Health Organization (WHO) and the UN Food and Agriculture Organization (UN FAO), which worked together to declare June 7 as the food safety day. This was in a bid to highlight that food safety is a critical global concern as unsafe food can lead to food-borne illnesses, which can have severe health consequences. Each year, World Food Safety Day focuses on a specific theme to address different aspects of food safety.

 

Demonstration on food hygiene and microbial safety was also arranged. Also, posters on food regulation, food labelling and nutritional labelling, food addition & contaminants were also exhibited.  More than 150 students from various colleges participated in the programme which included the students from St. Philomena’s college, JSS College, Jnanodaya PU College and so on from Mysore.

 

Dr. Navin Kumar Rastogi, Chief Scientist & Director-in Charge, CSIR-CFTRI, formally inaugurated the event and addressed the gathering on the importance and awareness on World Food Safety Day 2023, its significance and its benefits to the society.

 

Arrangements were made in the Department of Food Safety & Analytical Quality Control Laboratory of CSIR-CFTRI to celebrate the World Food Safety Day on June 7, 2023. Scientists, Technologists, Scholars and Research Students organised the demonstration on detection of adulterants in edible oils, spice products, sweets, milk, honey and so on.

The J&K Department of Agriculture Production will apply for Geographical indications tag to 18 agricultural products from various regions of Jammu and Kashmir. Products that will be applied for this month are Ambri and Maharaji apples, Naak tang pears, Repora grapes, walnuts, red rice, shallots, Kashmiri long chilli, Lotus stem, water chestnut, Kashmiri haakh, Gushtaba, Tabakhmaaz, dried fish (Hogaad), Gurez Rajmash (kidney beans, pine nuts (Chilgoza), Phari (smoked fish) and Moth (Poonchi).

 

Additional Chief Secretary, J&K Government Atal Dulloo said that the department was taking proactive steps in increasing the production of indigenous crops as well as securing the identity of products that have a distinction from the region.

Myanmar Commerce Minister U Aung Naing Oo on Monday expressed hope that a Rupee-Kyat trade arrangement between the two nations is finalised by June-end. Oo said trade volume between the two countries will double once the arrangement being worked out as Myanmar which has been hit by US sanctions is unable to earn sufficient foreign exchange to import goods from its trade partners.

 

'We are suffering from US sanctions since 2021 and it is becoming difficult to settle payment transactions with other countries in dollars', he said at an event organised by EEPC India here.

 

Under the special arrangement, Myanmar will accept Rupee payments for all its exports to India and use that rupee hoard to import from here.

 

To facilitate this, RBI has appointed Punjab National Bank (PNB) to open a special Vostro account for foreign trade with Myanmar. PNB in turn has approached two banks in Myanmar where these accounts will be opened.

 

The minister said 'negotiations between PNB and the central bank of Myanmar is going on and is expected to be completed by this month. Once this arrangement becomes operational, trade volume between the two countries will double'.

 

Oo said India is the eleventh largest investor in Myanmar with $ 775.11 million worth of investments.

 

He said India also was one of the main trading partners of Myanmar in the previous fiscal year. India had exported USD 820 million worth of goods to its eastern neighbor and imported goods worth USD 540 million.

 

Top exports from Myanmar to India include metal ore, natural rubber, plywood, fish, lentils and garments.

 

Myanmar's major imports from India include pharmaceuticals, petroleum products, chemicals, machinery, coffee and tea. India accounts for five per cent of Myanmar's international trade, he said.

 

Myanmar has already put in place similar trading arrangements with China and Thailand.

 

'We are going for this special arrangement with neighbouring countries to reduce our dependence on dollars,'Oo added.

 

The minister also said that Myanmar Central Bank and the RBI have mutually agreed in principle on a Rupee-Kyat payment system and standard operating procedures (SOP) to support this has been negotiated in lines with the foreign exchange policies of both the countries.

India is not considering allowing sugar exports until at least the first half of the next season, as the government is worried the El Nino weather pattern could reduce rainfall and dent production, government sources said on Monday.

 

India, the world's second biggest sugar exporter, usually decides the amount of the sweetener mills can export before the start of the new marketing year on Oct. 1. The delay in shipments from India could support global sugar prices trading near multi-year highs.

 

'The weather is a big negative factor. Last year, despite good monsoon rains, sugar production fell. This year, with El Nino, we can't take the risk of allowing exports early,' said a senior government official who did not want to be identified in line with official rules.

 

The El Nino weather pattern, which triggered most droughts that India faced during the past seven decades, could bring about extreme weather later this year.

 

'In any sugar season, it takes at least a few months to get a clear idea about production, and that's why we will wait until there's an absolutely clear picture about production,' said another government official, who also declined to be identified.

 

'As far as exports are concerned, we will not be in any hurry at all.'

 

A government spokesperson did not immediately respond to a request for comment.

 

At the start of the current sugar season to Sept. 30, 2023, the industry pegged this year's output at 36 million tonnes, which has been scaled down to 32.8 million tonnes.

 

Due to the lower output, India allowed exports of 6.1 million tonnes for this season. As the quota is exhausted, India is currently not exporting sugar.

 

Even if India agrees to allow exports later during the 2023-2024 season, New Delhi may not allow more than 4 million tonnes, the officials said. The government is keen to control food prices ahead of some state elections in 2023 and a general election in mid-2024.

 

The country exported more than 11 million tonnes in 2021/2022, an all-time high.

 

The world needs more Indian sugar and as early as possible since global prices are trading near 11-years high, said a Mumbai-based dealer with a global trade house.

 

'The delay in Indian exports will further lift prices, and will allow Brazilian sellers to demand even higher prices,' said a Mumbai-based dealer with a global trade house.