The Netherlands is in talks with several Indian States for setting up “centre of excellence” in agriculture.
Anand Krishnan, the Netherlands’ Deputy Counsellor for Agriculture, Nature & Food Quality in India and Sri Lanka, said here on Wednesday that it was in discussions with West Bengal, Kerala, Karnataka, Punjab, UP, Bihar and Assam for creating farm produce-specific knowledge and expertise-sharing platforms.
In West Bengal, a study would be carried out to identify agriculture-related technology areas where such a business collaboration platform could come up.
Dutch ambassador Alphonsus Stoelinga said the Netherlands accorded top priority to two-way trade and investment in agriculture and SME sector. The current two-way trade between the Netherlands and India stands at around €6.38 billion. About 100 Dutch firms including Akzo Nobel and Phillips have invested in India, while 174 Indian companies including Tata Steel and Apollo Tyres have invested in Netherlands.
To facilitate engagement of small Dutch businesses in India, the Ambassador said, his embassy would provide space and infrastructure to the set up temporary business desks in Delhi from next month.
He pointed out that a cold storage unit for packaged food items with Dutch technological support has been set up this month in West Bengal.