Baku, May 25, AZERTAC

The Embassy of India in Baku, in association with the Agricultural and Processed Food Products Export Development Authority (APEDA), India has organized a Business Webinar followed by B2B interactions on cut flowers, foliage, planting material, orchids, seeds, vegan, meat, rice and tea products.

The Agricultural and Processed Food Products Export Development Authority (APEDA) was established by the Government of India and is mandated with the responsibility of export promotion and development of the agricultural products.

The event which was part of the celebrations of 75 years of India's Independence - Azadi Ka Amrit Mahotsav, was attended by the major companies of relevant products in India and Azerbaijan, representatives from the Food Safety Agency of Azerbaijan, the Agro Services Agency under the Ministry of Agriculture as well as journalists.

In his opening remarks, General Manager of APEDA V.K. Vidyarthi underlined that India has well established infrastructure for agro-food processing and the state of the art laboratories in India conduct tests in accordance to food safety standards.

Speaking at the webinar, Ambassador of India to Azerbaijan Bawitlung Vanlalvawna noted that there is a huge scope for diversifying India's economic engagement with Azerbaijan. He said that Indian food products are already known in the Azerbaijani market as varieties of products including rice, meat, spices and tea are sourced from India. He further stated that there is much scope for enhancing engagement and collaboration between the two countries in this sector.

Chairman of APEDA M. Angamuthu mentioned that India is a hub of agriculture and food products because of its diversity and India's floriculture sector has evolved as a commercial business venture with a high market value and tremendous opportunities. He noticed that increasing floriculture production in India offers great opportunity for bilateral cooperation with Azerbaijan in this sector.

Representative of the Food Safety Agency of Azerbaijan Vafa Safarli made a presentation of the Agency's activities, its services and documents issued by the Agency as well as rules and procedures for import of floriculture, seed and food products in Azerbaijan.

Assistant Director of National Seed Association of India Deepankar Pandey made a presentation on export of seeds, its scope, prospects and opportunities in which he stressed that India's seed sector is valued 3 billion USD and is 5th largest globally.

The event also featured a presentation on export of vegan products by Executive Director of Plant based Foods Industry Association Sanjay Sethi.

According to the Azerbaijani statistics, bilateral trade between India and Azerbaijan during January-December 2021 was US$ 739.10 million increasing 26.8%. India was 10th major trade partner of Azerbaijan during this period. Azerbaijan’s export to India was US$ 594.43 million increasing 30.1%. India's share in Azerbaijan's total export during the period was 2.7%, being 8th export destination for Azerbaijan. Azerbaijan’s import from India was US$ 144.67 million during January-December 2021 with an increase of 14.8% as compared to the same period of last year.