Govt looking at the possibility of setting up food parks

New Delhi, Apr 20 (UNI) Agricultural exports including fruits and vegetables will be the next area of growth for Indian exports, Commerce and Industry Minister Kamal Nath said here today.

He said "Our great area in future will be in the field of agriculture exports". The Minister highlighted the need to strengthen the infrastructure in the post-harvest stage to benefit from the opportunities in this area.

Mr Nath informed that the Government is looking at the possibility of setting up Food Parks and would provide the necessary assistance in this regard. He also referred to his recent visit to China and pointed out the great potential for agro-exports that China may provide.

He said, "I have taken upon myself that in the next few months Chinese markets will open to the Indian agricultural exports".

He also pointed out the significance of the record 16 billion dollar foreign direct investment (FDI) recorded in 2006-07 and said the country would continue to attract more investments. "I have targeted FDI for 2007-08 at 25 billion dollar".

Responding to questions from the industry representatives, he agreed that a lot needs to be done to improve the infrastructure and the Government was committed to address the issue. To a question pertaining to the Governments policy on Special Economic Zones (SEZs), Mr Nath stated that the real issue in SEZs is not the number of SEZs but the number of units set up in the SEZs.

He stated that since it was not possible to have mega-sized SEZs in India as in case of China it is therefore necessary that India has a higher number of SEZs to bring about rapid industrialisation and to give momentum to exports. "If we have limits on the size of SEZs, we cannot limit the number of SEZs," he said.

The Minister reiterated that the Government's commitment to ensure that land acquisition for the purpose of SEZs is done in a fair and transparent manner.

Meanwhile, Mr Nath announced that the Ministry would hold two open houses in the coming days at which the exporters and the industry representatives could discuss their specific concerns and problems if any, related to the Foreign Trade Policy Supplement announced yesterday before the necessary notifications are issued.

The Commerce Minister made these comments in his first appearance while interacting with the representative of two trade lobbies after yesterday's release of the Foreign Trade Policy.

UNI