Argentinian minister calls for boosting trade with India

Panaji, Sep 22 (UNI) Argentinian Minister Ferdinand L Nebbia today called for furthering bilateral cooperation with India to boost trade and commerce.

The Argentinian Minister for Agriculture and Livestock was addressing the Globoil India' s 11th international conference-cum-exhibition on Edible Oil Industry organised by the Tefla's Commodity Interface Private Limited and The Solvent Extractors' Association of India in South Goa.

Participating in the two-day conference, Mr Guillermo Alcarcac, Director General of Investments and Exports, Ministry of Industry and Commerce, Government of Paraguay, also stressed the need for forging a strategic relationship between the two countries for boosting cultural and commercial ties.

Speaking on the occasion Goa Chief Minister Digambar Kamat called for concerted efforts in agriculture to achieve self reliance in edible oil production so that the country could avoided dependence on imports to save precious foreign exchange.

He also expressed concern over neglect of farming in Goa despite availability of incentives.

The trio later presented awards to various people for their outstanding conmtribution to the oilseed sector.

Globoil India is an independent forum promoting interface among various constituents of the edible oil industry of the subcontinent, offering the best analysts and change managers, experts and industry trend setters on an interactive platform.

An international forum for rersearch, analysis and dissemination of knowledge on vegetable oil and related industries, the Globoil India claimed that the size of the Indian oilseed sector is estimated at 16.5 billion dollars inclusive of exports and imports.

The fourth largest vegetable oil econommy in the world, India is the leading importer of vegetable oil. European Union is the world's largest importer of oils at 10 million tonnes,followed by China at 8.6 million tonnes and India at 5.4 million tonnes during 2006-07 fiscal.

India consumes about 12.5 million tonnes of various edible oils even as it accounts for 7.4 per cent of the world oilseed output, 6.1 per cent of oilmeal production, 3.9 per cent of oilmeal export, 5.8 per cent of vegetable oil oroduction, 11.2 import and 9.3 million tonne consumption.

India imported about 3.3 million tonne of edible oils comporising of 2.2 million tonne palm products and 1.1 million tonne of soft oils between November 2006 and July 2007, according to experts.

UNI