India asks EU to lift import ban on some vegetables

NEW DELHI: India has asked the European Union to lift the ban imposed on import of some vegetables like bitter gourd and okra.

Agriculture Minister Radha Mohan Singh today made this demand before EU Agriculture Commissioner Phil Hogan on the sidelines of G-20 Agriculture Ministers meeting at Istanbul.

"Singh thanked Hogan for lifting the ban on import of Indian mangoes and urged him to quickly resolve the issue of ban on import of other vegetables including bitter gourd, snake gourd, okra etc from India," an official statement said.

Singh also met his Canadian counterpart Gerry Ritz and discussed issues of mutual interest.

He sought the expertise of Canadian commercial enterprises in the low cost, energy efficient and ecologically sustainable cold chain technologies in India and invited Canadian investment in this sector.

"It was also agreed to quickly fix the date for the 4th meeting of the Joint Working Group with a view to take forward the cooperation between the two countries," the release said.

Singh is attending the two-day agri-meet of G-20 nations starting May 7.

This is the second meeting of G-20 agriculture ministers. The first meeting was held in June 2011 at Paris, France.

The G-20 meeting is expected to deliberate on global issues such as food security, food inflation, farm productivity, foodgrain loss, welfare of farmers among others.