Minister of State for Agriculture & Farmers Welfare and European Commissioner for Agriculture held a meeting at New Delhi on 08.12.2023. The main focus of the meeting is to discuss agricultural policies and initiatives towards sustainable food systems, market access issues, India-EU FTA negotiations and bilateral agreement of Organic Products. This Press release from Press Information Bureau Government of India was released on the date of 08.12.2023.
the recent initiatives by the Government of India including National Mission on Sustainable Agriculture (NMSA) and National Innovations in Climate Resilient Agriculture (NICRA) schemes to make agriculture sustainable and climate resilient was highlighted in the meeting. The market access issues where also discussed as they are creating trade barriers in export of agricultural products to the EU and recalled India’s request for Protected Geographical Indicator (GI) status for Basmati Rice pending with the European Commission. The European Commissioner assured that the concerns raised by Indian side are under active consideration and will be addressed soon. The importance of the Joint Working Group mechanism was also highlighted by the European Commissioner to resolve issues of mutual concern and expressed their readiness to hold its next meeting.
