'Food Processing has an untapped potential,' Harsimrat Badal at India Canada Business Session

The India Canada Business Session was held in New Delhi at the Durbar Hall, Taj Diplomatic Enclave as a part of week long visit by Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau's to India. Harsimrat Kaur Badal, Minister of Food Processing Industries, Government of India, Ms. Shobana Kamineni, President of CII and Executive Vice President of Apollo Hospitals, Mr. Rashesh Shah, President, FICCI & Chairman and CEO, Edelweiss Group and Mr. Sandeep Jajodia, President, ASSOCHAM & Chairman, Monnet Group were the part of the business session.   Harsimrat Kaur Badal also took to social media site Twitter and shared, "Pleased to welcome the Canadian delegation of Ministers and other dignitaries as part of India Canada Business session with “Right Honourable Justin Trudeau”

Pleased to welcome the Canadian delegation of Ministers and other dignitaries as part of India Canada Business session with “Right Honourable Justin Trudeau” pic.twitter.com/S38l395Wij — Harsimrat Kaur Badal (@HarsimratBadal_) February 22, 2018

Justin Trudeau, Prime Minister of Canada and Harsimrat Kaur Badal, Minister of Food Processing exchanged words along with opportunities of India and Canada ties on the forum. While Harsimrat Badal said, 'Canada is a home away from home for many Punjabi, Justin Trudeau appreciated the love and warm hospitality extended to him along with his family.' 'The government has allocated doubled budget to the food processing ministry to Rs 1,400 crore for 2018-19 fiscal and set up institutions to finance agro-processing projects' Harsimrat Kaur Badal added. Harsimrat Kaur Badal urged the business leader to play a proactive role to encourage small and medium sector. She also said that food processing is going to witness double the growth in the coming years giving major opportunity to global investors. '$6000 billion sector in India out of which 70 percent is food retail is set to travel 1.3 trillion by 2020. The second largest population of 1.3 billion who's demand for food is set to double in the next five years. Truly the potential and the market that we have to offer is unparalleled', she added. 'India- Canada together have immense scope in cold chain and refrigeration, where experts from Canada and the Indian government are working towards creating a cold chain grid throughout the country,' Harsimrat Kaur Badal added. The hospitality extended to me and family is much appreciated and is phenomenal and that's something I want to talk about today, the similarities in both the countries, Justin Trudeau said. Trudeau began by saying, 'I am here to strengthen the historic ties between both the countries' and then spoke about key areas of mutual interest, including trade and investment, energy, science and innovation. The ties between India and Canada have been on an upswing he added. 'Diversity of religion, gender, lived experience enrich us and make our community resilient. If we want to progress as global communities, we must champion diversity and not just because its the nice thing to do but because it spurs innovation,' he said. -PTC News