The Hindu Business Line : India, Vietnam ink pact on cashew alliance

TEAM APPROACH: Mr Walter D'Souza, Chairman of Cashew Export Promotion Council of India, exchanging the MoU documents with Dr. Pham Van Bien, President of Vietnam Cashew Association, in Ho Chi Minh City, on Thursday.

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Mangalore Jan. 25 A global cashew alliance for promotion of cashew has come into force with two of the three major cashew producing and exporting countries - India and Vietnam — signing an agreement in this regard. The third major player - Brazil — is likely to join the alliance by April 30.

Mr Walter D'Souza, Chairman of Cashew Export Promotion Council of India (CEPCI), and Dr Pham Van Bien, President of Vietnam Cashew Association (VINACAS), signed a memorandum of understanding (MoU) at Ho Chi Minh City in Vietnam on Thursday. Both the CEPCI and VINACAS agreed the MoU will be sent to Association of Cashew Producers (SINDICAJU) of Brazil, and upon receipt of its confirmation, a tripartite MoU between SINDICAJU, CEPCI and VINACAS will be signed by April 30.

The MoU states that Brazil, India and Vietnam will work jointly and through their Governments to induce international organisations like FAO, UNIDO and other similar agencies to focus on cashews with the objective of increasing consumption of cashews in all countries as a food of importance.

These countries intend to work towards promotion of cashews in new and expanding areas of indirect consumption such as chocolate, confectionery and bakery products, and as food ingredients.

JOINT R&D

Apart from promoting the commodity, these countries want to work in a spirit of cooperation for research and development, primarily for studies in nutritional and health benefits and product development.

Added to this, the MoU states that these countries enlist the support of the International Nuts and Dried Fruits Council — which is being specialised in the promotion of treenuts and dried fruits — as the council is the appropriate organisation for the enhancement of cashew trade worldwide.

In achieving the above-mentioned purposes, the three organisations - CEPCI, VINACAS and SINDICAJU — want to take actions such as setting up a mechanism for regular exchange of information among the associations. The areas of information exchange include crop prospects; production, import and export figures; reliable market information; and the government policies affecting the industry.

UNIFORM SPECIFICATIONS

They also want to set up a committee to formulate uniform worldwide grades and specifications to avoid ambiguity and difficulties in international trade and implement these standards amongst the industry in respective countries. The three organisations want to initiate studies on nutrition in cashews, as they will get results validated by credible international organisations.

GLOBAL BODY

The alliance wants to proceed with setting up of `Global Cashew Body' by nominating one person each from the three organisations to formulate the structure, constitution, objectives and activities of the body. These organisations plan to work jointly to get contributions of financial and other resources for the `Global Cashew Body' from their respective governments and multilateral organisations such as FAO, UNIDO and other similar agencies.

The CEPCI team began the tour of Vietnam on January 22.

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India, Vietnam ink pact on cashew alliance