JEDDAH — The Saudi Indian Business Network (SIBN), under the aegis of Consulate General of India, led a delegation of 20 Saudi businessmen to the recently concluded world’s largest Indian food & beverage sourcing show with Reverse Buyer Seller Meet and the response by the Saudi team was positive.

About 1,300 foreign buyers from 80 countries comprising large retailers, importers, investors along with government firms and 700 domestic suppliers participated in the third edition of “Indus Food 2020” that was held at India Exposition Mart, Greater Noida, Uttar Pradesh, and organized by Trade Promotion Council of India with the support of Department of Commerce. Commerce Secretary Anup Wadhawan inaugurated the event.

The delegation was one of the strongest delegations from the Middle East with the three-day event also featuring two concomitant shows Indus Food-Chem and Indus Food-Tech 2020 — making Indus Food 2020 bigger and grander this year.

Indian Consul General Md. Noor Rahman Sheikh’s initiative played a key role in making the visit of this large delegation to the Indus Food 2020 a big success.

The event drew attention to abundant opportunities for Indo-Saudi business, with various well-known groups showing interest in developing partnerships. Most of the delegates expressed their desire to be part of the next Indus Food delegation in 2021.

Indus Food-Tech 2020 is a global platform to showcase food and drink technology and equipment to the food processing companies in India and the world. The sectors covered at the Trade Fair includes Food & Beverage Processing, Drink Technology, Food Packaging & Labeling, Automation & Controls and Supply Chain Solutions.

In recognition of the strong links established by the Saudi Indian Business Network (SIBN) with the Trade Promotion Council of India (TPCI), all 20 Saudi SMEs were provided with return air tickets, three nights’ hotel accommodation in a five star hotel in Delhi and local transport including airport transfers. In addition, post event tours to manufacturing plants were organized for the benefit of SMEs to identify suitable machinery/equipment for expansion of their manufacturing capacities.

The Saudi Indian Business Network (SIBN) with a history of over 15 years, assist SMEs in Saudi Arabia to venture into Indian market through its strong linkages established with TPCI where MoU has been signed to develop bilateral trade between two countries last year.

The 20 SME delegates are dealing with dairy products, processed food, dry fruits, meat products, poultry, spices, rice, tea, fruits such as high breed mango varieties and confectionary. The TPCI recognized Mir Gazanfar Ali Zaki, general secretary of SIBN, contribution with an award

The Saudi delegates said it was amazing to see so many products under one roof. They are basically importing most of the commodities from the UAE, which itself imports those commodities from India. They are now looking to directly buy those products from India as that will help them to substantially reduce the cost of purchase of those commodities. In addition delegates also looked for value-added products from India.

Mrs. Hamna Mariyam, Consul (Commerce & PIC) and Amjad Shareef, marketing research assistant (MRA), of Consulate General of India, Jeddah Commercial Section managed and organized the Indus Food 2020 trip. Air India’s Salman Aziz and Aleemuddin Shareef extended support to the Saudi delegation. — SG