The Indo-German Chamber of Commerce (IGCC) and Vidarbha Industries Association (VIA) jointly organised an interactive meeting with a German Delegation from Baden-Wuerttemberg here on Thursday at VIA Auditorium, Civil Lines, Nagpur. Friedlinde Gurr-Hirsch MdL, State Secretary in the Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Affairs of Baden-Wuerttemberg, led the delegation of agriculture experts to India and especially to Maharashtra with the partner State Baden-Wuerttemberg. At the outset she spoke about her country and highlighted the bond of relationship between India and Baden -Wuerttemberg. “We are not only looking at highlighting opportunities in agriculture sectors, but also in the field of consumer protection and food safety,” she said adding that her Ministry deals with the development of rural areas as well as forestry and forest products.

“Our focus is on promoting healthy, sustainable and regional food for the consumers in our country,” she said. About Five years back, BW-I and Maharashtra had signed an MoU to create a partnership. “Today, we are here to strengthen this ties especially in the field of winery. There is a long lasting contract between our State Research Institute for wine growing and Indian wine growers. It is a lively exchange between wineries in BW-I and region of Mumbai and Nashik,” She said Maharashtra is her country’s partner State.

She also informed the participating companies about visit of German delegation to multiple cities in India like Delhi, Pune, Nagpur and Mumbai to explore the scope for developing business relations / affiliations with Indian partners.

The delegation focused on the “Agriculture Industry” and the objective of the interaction was to know more about the prestigious institutions from Baden-Wurttemberg, Germany and explore possibilities for members from Vidarbah region to collaborate with them in mutually beneficial ways. In the informal B2B meeting with German delegation comprises of Michael Tauch - State Ministry; Sandro Kopf, Managing Director – Agrar Service Kopf; Prof Dr Mario Schmidt; Kerstin Anstätt, Institution Director / Research Associate–Hochschule Pforzheim (University of Applied Sciences Pforzheim); Hermann Hohl, President, Winegrowing Association Württemberg, Julia Fendel, Project Management, AKI - AgrarKontakte Internationalo AKI e.V; and Anna Krywalski, Regional Manager India, Baden-Wuerttemberg International were present. Apart from this, members of VIA, business people from the agriculture, food-processing and associated industries and interested entrepreneurs interacted with the German delegation. Omprakash Z Jajodia, Proprietor - Krishi Kranti Kendra, Nagpur; Shiraz K Doongaji, Director of Stewols India (P) Ltd., Nagpur; Chandrashekhar Padgilwar, Managing Partner of Padgilwar Agro Industries, Nagpur; Sudhir Kunte; Ajay Agrawal and Ajay Jain, Senior Commercial Manager – Chhindwara Plus Developers Ltd.; Piyush Hundia, Mg Partner, HP and Associates; Sandeep Banerjee from Savita Auto Industries; Yogesh Dhankar from MADC Limited, Swapnil Muley from Naturify, Manish Khanchandani from Culkraft Food LLP.; Alpa Agrawal, Founder and CEO - Allmin Resources Ireland Ltd., Ireland also took part in the event. Earlier, Suresh Rathi, President – VIA welcomed the State Secretary with floral bouquet. Rathi in his welcome address informed about the opportunities available in Vidarbha region. He said today’s greatest challenge is climate change.

Dr Prashant Agrawal made an opening remark. Pratik Tapadia, Chairman - VIA EXIM Forum conducted the proceedings. Formal vote of thanks was proposed by Cheryl DMello, Director (Events), Indo-German Chamber of Commerce. VIA Vice Presidents - Aditya Saraf and Dr Suhas Buddhe; Chairman of CSR Forum Girdhari Mantri; VIA Joint Secretary, Pankaj Bakshi; Reeta Lanjewar, Chairperson – VIA LEW were also present.

Source ( Hitvada)