India Base For Gulf’s Food Security: Saudi Arabia, UAE To Invest In Agriculture Sector, Says Suresh Prabhu

Suresh Prabhu, the Minister for Commerce & Industry and Civil Aviation, has said that the United Arab Emirates (UAE) and Saudi Arabia have indicated interest in investing in the Indian agricultural sector.

While addressing the valedictory session of the two-day CII Partnership Summit, the minister said that both the countries had decided to use India as a base for food security. “Since India produces 290 million tonnes of food grain and 305 to 310 million tonnes of horticulture, there is a huge potential to export”, he added, as reported by Indian Express.

The minister expressed the government’s desire to strengthen bilateral ties with both the gulf countries, and emphasised on how the government is willing to have free trade agreements with the countries in Latin America, Africa, Southeast Asia.

“In the export policy, we have decided to remove all restrictions on organic products and processed products. Both the UAE and Saudi want to invest in both organic as well as food processing industries. This will be a win-win situation for the UAE, Saudi and other GCC countries but also for us, particularly for our farmers, who want better prices to their produce,” said Prabhu.