00:00Agriculture is one of the main areas being explored as an Indian investment
00:05mission is in the country, looking into different sectors including health,
00:09aluminum and steel, and digital payments. Among the delegation, officials from
00:15Haryana-based and state-owned Hafed, including its chairman, Minister of Trade
00:21and Industry Paula Gopiskun, says Hafed is heavily engaged in agriculture
00:25commodities and she believes this country can benefit. India ranks second
00:31in the world in agricultural production and globally India ranks ninth for
00:36agricultural exports. We feel that there's much that they can share with us
00:41and of course much that we can learn from them and we're pleased to see that
00:47we, after discussions this morning, we are already seeing a way forward in terms of
00:54work that we can do together. Gopiskun states that 80% of Haryana, which has a
01:00population of 30 million people, is cultivated and it is fully independent
01:05in terms of its food production needs. The main crops of Haryana are wheat, rice,
01:10sugarcane, cotton, oilseeds, pulses, barley, maize, millet, etc. Just to see a few.
01:20There is also a lot of food processing mechanisms. Hafed is responsible for
01:25700 million metric tons of food grains. Its General Manager of Procurement and
01:31Finance, Dr. Arun Kumar Ahoya, refers to the discourse with the trade ministry as
01:37meaningful with good potential for collaboration. We had a discussion with
01:42Honorable Prime Minister of the Trinidad and Tobago also and wherein he directed
01:48his team of ministers and yesterday also we had a meeting with Minister of
01:54Legal Affairs and today we have met ministers in agriculture to look into
01:59the areas wherein we can be of beneficial to each other.
02:04Hafed says rice, milk and oil production are some of the areas identified so far
02:11but talks will continue to explore more aspects of mutual interest. The
02:16discussions have also surrounded different models and moving forward
02:19including government-to-government, cooperative-to-cooperative and public-
02:23private partnerships. Minister Gopi Skun says follow-up action will be taken from
02:28the various meetings held with Hafed. There would be a technical team which
02:33would be set up to work out the details of cooperation and quite naturally the
02:38team will be comprised members from the Ministry of Agriculture, Lands and
02:42Fisheries, from the Office of the Prime Minister and also from the Ministry of
02:46Trade and Industry. The investment mission delegation is heading to Tobago
02:51on Thursday to look at a tourism sector. Meanwhile on Friday they are expected to
02:56visit National Flower Mills, the Carlson Field Mill and the Moruga Agro-
03:01Processing Park. Alicia Boucher, TV6 News.
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