IBPC Qatar hosts seafood meet

IBPC Qatar, in collaboration with the Marine Products Exports Development Authority of India (MPEDA), recently hosted an India–Qatar B2B business meeting between exporters and importers of seafood and their value-added products.

Ambassador of India Vipul was the chief guest at the meeting, which saw more over 70 participants from India and Qatar forging new business partnerships. Several new business deals were struck during the two-hour meet.

India is the third-largest fish and aquaculture producing country in the world and the fisheries sector is a vital part of India’s economy, employing over 30mn people and “significantly” contributing to the country’s foreign exchange earnings, according to the Indian envoy.

India primarily exports a variety of marine products, including frozen shrimp, fish, cuttlefish, squids, and dried, alive and chilled items. Vipul urged all delegates to take advantage of the Meet and explore opportunities for collaboration, cooperation, and establishing new partnerships, assuring embassy’s full support to help expand bilateral economic ties between the two nations.

Highlighting that India’s marine products exports reached an impressive $8bn, with a target to achieve $14bn by 2025; Dr M Karthikeyan, Director MPEDA, said this growth is a testament to the dedication and hard work of exporters and the entire fisheries community.

MPEDA has been working with 120 countries, exporting more than 300 categories of products to Middle East, Americas, Asia and Europe in 2023.

Deepak Pundir, Attache (Commerce) Embassy of India, coordinated the event between Indian delegates and Qatari business owners.

IBPC vice-president Abdul Sathar recounted efforts and initiatives of business community to enhance bilateral trade and economic ties between India and Qatar by promoting Indian products at their retail outlets.