India & NZ serious about expanding investment

"India & NZ are serious about expanding investment opportunities”, says John Key at INZBC Summit 2016.

Putting the FTA back in focus, the Prime Minister said that, “India is potentially a huge market and India New Zealand Business Council playing a very critical role from our point of view in terms of linking New Zealand, pretty small country at the bottom of the world with second most populous country in the world.”

The Prime Minister revealed that he will be going to India in October this year, to push for FTA negotiations which we have been working on.

“If we look at the numbers, we are currently doing 2.2 billion worth of two-way trade with India, it shows the potential of doing trade with India further if we get the agreement right. Although, Free trade agreement by itself doesn’t guarantee that we would get more business straightaway, but it does let us trade in each other’s market”.

Key also noted that organisations like India New Zealand Business Council are important to make the pathways easier between the govt. of both the countries.

“New Zealand can work on advancing the corporation with India to make sure those small farms can grow and become more productive. India's long-term aim is to be self-sustained in its food production as its population increases which in itself an opportunity for New Zealand" said Prime Minister John Key.

One of the highlights was the address of Mr Arvind Mehta, India's Lead Negotiator of the FTA with NZ.

On the negotiations, he said, “After having seen the phases of negotiations since 2010, I have observed that best has the potential to become the enemy of good. As a pragmatic negotiator, my job is to marry the best with the possible and come up with the deal on which countries can build later.”

Mr. Mehta said, “There is a unique combination between India's scale and New Zealand's experimentation which brings its own set of best practices into intermingling of two wonderful cultures to then create so much more that can be done with the opportunities that India presents in any sector be it dairy, agriculture, horticulture, and many more. There are limitless potentialities of collaboration possible through the vibrant relationship between two countries.”

“I would also like to articulate very openly that If India desires a TPP architecture, India would have joined the TPP talks much earlier. So, obviously there is some political mechanism of a democracy that limits India from viewing TPP as the gold standard in the current context", said Mr Mehta.

The Summit also saw the address by Hon Jo Goodhew, Minister, Food Safety. She said, “In terms of future collaborations after PM John Key launched the New Zealand Inc. India Strategy, a plan for India to become a core trade, economic and local partner for New Zealand. The New Zealand govt. will continue to support the negotiations of free trade agreement with India. The recently signed MOU between INZBC and Fieldays is a welcome move reflecting the growing relationship between both the countries”.

Speaking at summit, Jane Cunliffe, New Zealand Trade Commissioner based in Delhi, described India as a ‘major economy on the move.’

“Population and income growth are key drivers in the growth of the economy. However, the agricultural sector needs immediate attention to cope with the challenges of the modern world including skills development; farm mechanisation, cold storage, warehousing, food processing and packaging. We need to understand where New Zealand can fit,” she said.

Ms Cunliffe said that the New Zealand Trade & Enterprise was seeing larger farms emerging in India and that it was working with 60 companies intensely for achieving the objectives.

Wenceslaus Anthony, Head, Government Relations, INZBC, said, “INZBC had organised the 1st ever kind of Agri-Tech focused Summit in the India New Zealand space as both the countries accord high priority to the Agriculture Sector keeping in line INZBC commitment to the MOU with Fieldays. As part of the continuous commitment , the Chair Robert Barker is representing INZBC in the Fieldays event. The successful Summit and the endorsement of the Prime Minister Rt. Hon John Key of the important role INZBC plays in the bilateral trade between India and New Zealand is the testimony of what INZBC can achieve. Captains of the Industry of both the countries and financial sectors participated and had enriched the Summit. INZBC acknowledges the great support received from NZTE , MFAT and Indian High Commissioner.”

“The participation of the Lead Negotiator for FTA – India side – Mr Arvind Mehta- gave an opportunity to INZBC to strongly advocate for the high-quality FTA and he honestly said that the there are many complexities and too many lawyers and negotiations are involved. INZBC strongly believes that this does not mean that it is not possible.”

Wenceslaus said that he is reminded of Rabindranath Quote: “If I can't make it through one door, I'll go through another door- or I’ll make a door” is very much INZBC commitment to enhancing the trade and business between India and New Zealand and to work with the Negotiator of both the countries towards the FTA.

Another milestone at the summit was signing of the MOU with PHD Chamber of Commerce. PHD Chamber of Commerce and Industry, established in 1905, is a proactive and dynamic multi-State apex organisation working at the grass-root level and with strong national and international linkages, in India.

The Chamber acts as a catalyst in the promotion of industry, trade and entrepreneurship. PHD Chamber, through its research-based policy advocacy role, positively impacts the economic growth and development of the nation.

PHD Chamber's geographical span covers the 12 States of Bihar, Chhattisgarh, Delhi, Haryana, Himachal Pradesh, Jharkhand, Jammu & Kashmir, Madhya Pradesh, Punjab, Rajasthan, Uttar Pradesh, Uttarakhand and the Union Territory of Chandigarh. PHD Chamber has a direct membership of over 1,600 corporate entities and serves more than 45,000 indirect members through 200 Association Members and 8 Secretarial Affiliates. The membership covers trade and industry.

Through this MOU- INZBC will work closely with IPHD Chamber which provides an excellent forum to NZ companies registered in India for getting their problems redressed by and suggestions put up to relevant government authorities at the Central and State level, through both focussed interaction with government officials and submission of memoranda and representations.

Bhav Dhillon, INZBC Treasurer, further acknowledged the support of INZBC supporting partners namely ATEED, Callaghan Innovation, Westpac, who worked with us in bringing this event together.

INZBC Chair, Robert Barker said that the Summit has been a success, seeing the good industry response. “The summit witnessed over 200 global business leaders, government officials, stakeholders and academicians from both the countries. The Summit has being held in partnership with New Zealand National Fieldays, the most respected organisation in NZ for Agriculture. This will surely go a long way in putting the focus back on agri-tech, which is the primary industry for India and New Zealand”.

The summit proceeded with the presentations from speakers of the top notch agribusiness companies from India and New Zealand discussing in depth the scope of agribusiness in both the countries. Some of the speakers from Indian Diaspora included R. Amalorpavanathan, DMD of National Bank for Agriculture and Rural Development (NABARD), Dr. RS Khanna, Kwality Dairy India Ltd., Co-Chairman, Agribusiness and Dairy Committee, PHD Chamber of Commerce and Industry, Sanjeev Asthana, Chairman, Agriculture Skill Council of India, Sukhvinder Saraf of Binsar Farms, and Anil Berry of Qualitat Products (India) to name a few.

For more details go to http://www.inzbusinesssummit.com/

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