South African Envoy France Morule today evinced keen interest in setting up of joint ventures in the agro-processing industry especially in the field of packaging and marketing of kinnow juice as Punjab was the major producer of kinnow in the country and SA was too a leader in the production of citrus fruits besides having enviable dominance in the segment of fruit juice processing. SA High Commissioner Morule accompanied by the Honorary Consul General called on the Punjab Chief Minister Parkash Singh Badal at his residence this afternoon. Morule invited the Chief Minister to lead a business delegation to SA to explore untapped potential in agriculture, coal, food processing, textile and hosiery as there was a tremendous export potential from there to other parts of the world as SA was a duty free zone. Taking part in the deliberations, Mr. Badal urged the visiting Ambassador to lead a high level delegation of progressive farmers from SA to attend the four-day progressive agriculture summit at Mohali from February 16-19, 2014 and also extended a formal invitation to him in this regard. He hoped that both Punjab and SA could be mutually benefitted from each other’s experience and expertise in the field of agriculture and food processing.
The Chief Minister also asked Mr. Morule to send a team of experts from agro-processing industry to Punjab for studying and exploring ways and means to enhance the value addition of kinnow through packaging and marketing its juice besides other juices from guava, peach, lemon etc. He told Mr. Morule that the Punjab government could undertake these ventures in PPP mode in order to supplement the stagnated income of kinnow growers. He also showed keen interest in some viable tie-ups in the field of agro-forestry and tourism through developing amusement parks here as these were quite successful and profitable ventures in SA. The Chief Minister implored Mr. Morule that these proposals should not merely be left on paper rather they must be concertized by implementing them on the ground in right earnest. Mr. Badal assured him that the state government has already set up a bureau of investment promotion to boost investments in the states and now all the requisite clearances were being given in a fast mode under one roof. Mr. Badal also offered him to work out some viable strategy to upgrade the existing juicing plants of Punjab Agro at Abohar and Hoshiarpur so as to enhance their capacity besides packaging and marketing the same in an attractive manner by showcasing these products through branding.
Morule highly appreciated the investment proposals put forth by the Chief Minister and said that he would certainly take up with the SA government to set up these ventures in agro-processing besides manufacturing potato chips and wafers from potato because Punjab was also a major producer of quality potato. He also mentioned few other areas of interest like infrastructure, toll management where SA could actively participate in any mode of investment mutually consented upon. Meanwhile, Mr. Sawhney apprised the Chief Minister that 80% of agriculture produce in SA was processed where as only 2% of was processed in Punjab. He said the value addition was the only answer to enhance the profitability of the farmers here and SA could play a pro-active role. He assured the Chief Minister that he would make use of his good offices to get these proposals through for bringing investment in Punjab especially in the agro-processing. The Chief Minister was accompanied by his Special Principal Secretary Mr. Gaggandip Singh Brar. Third Secretary Political Luthado E Maranjana, Senior Advisor-cum-Trade & Commerce Consular Mr. SC Pradhan were also present in the meeting.