India to hold major buyer-seller meets to promote exports

Kochi, Oct 12 (UNI) Major international buyer-seller meets will be held in India for a variety of commodities such as coir, coffee, tea and cashew on a regular basis to promote exports, Union Minister of State for Commerce Jairam Ramesh said today.

Addressing a press conference here, Mr Ramesh said that instead of sending Indian delegations overseas to explore markets, it was better to hold major international buyer-seller meets in major production centres in the country itself.

This would help foreign buyers to have a closer interaction with the sellers, he said.

To this end, a variety of ''international festivals'' were being proposed to be held on an annual or biennial basis. While a festival for carpets was scheduled to be inaugurated in Varanasi tomorrow, another on cashew was organised in Kovalam two weeks ago.

A coffee festival will be organised in Bangalore in February next year, followed by a tea festival in Guwahati in August/September and coir in Kochi or Alappuzha in October next year.

''I have proposed to the Coir Board to host the Coir Festival in October/November either every year or every alternate year. The first edition will be held in October, 2007,'' Mr Ramesh added.

UNI ARC AJ 1906