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Union Food Processing Industries Minister Chirag Paswan on Tuesday said India should emerge as a global food basket and expressed his ambition to see Indian food products reach dining tables across the world.
Speaking at the launch of the SAPLING High-Level Policy Dialogue, co-hosted by the World Bank Group and the Union Ministry of Food Processing Industries, Paswan said the two-day dialogue is aimed at discussing challenges, bottlenecks and growth opportunities in the food processing sector. Highlighting his vision for the sector, Paswan said, "I believe that India should itself become a global food basket." Emphasising the need to move beyond agricultural production and focus on value addition, he said, "We have the capacity. We have production and volume. Now it has to be converted into value." Sharing his aspiration for Indian food products in global markets, the minister said, "I want that no dining table should be such where at least one Indian food product is not present." Paswan said the policy dialogue has brought together stakeholders from across the food processing ecosystem to discuss ways to strengthen the sector and expand opportunities. He said discussions during the two-day event would focus on developing the value chain across the country, creating job opportunities and reducing food wastage. According to the minister, the event assumes significance not only for India but also for the wider South Asian region as it brings together government delegations, private sector representatives and other stakeholders. "Best practices, sharing, technology exchange, all these are discussed here, which makes it more important," Paswan said. He added that the platform would help participants learn from global experiences while also sharing India's practices with other countries. Paswan expressed confidence that the dialogue would help take India's food processing sector to both national and international levels and further strengthen the global presence of Indian food products. (ANI)
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