Venkat Raman in New Delhi –
Zindia Limited, the largest exporter of timber products to India signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) with Adani Port and SEZ Limited to promote a Timber Industrial Park at Mudra Port in Gujarat.
Zindia Managing Director Jacob Mannothra (who is also Managing Director of Indian Newslink Limited, publishers of Indian Newslink and owners of other Indian Newslink brands) signed the MoU with Karan Adani, Managing Director of Adani Port and SEZ Limited in the presence of New Zealand Prime Minister John Key and India’s Minister of State for Finance Arjun Ram Meghwal in New Delhi on Wednesday, October 26, 2016.
The signing ceremony was a part of a business meeting organised by the Confederation of Indian Industry (CII) in association with the Federation of Indian Chambers of Commerce & Industry (FICCI) and a number of other trade organisations and public and private undertakings in India.
The Zindia team included RCM Reddy, Managing Director, IL& FS Education & Technology Services, Yogesh Jain, Director, Zindia based in New Delhi and Sharat Kanthan, Head of Business Development Zindia-Adani Timber Industrial Park.
INZBC initiatives
The MoU and three other initiatives of the India New Zealand Business Council (INZBC) led by Head of Government Relations Wenceslaus Anthony and accompanied by Treasurer Bhav Dhillon and Executive Committee Member Mr Mannothra were the highlights of the two-day official visit of Mr Key to India. Details of these initiatives will be published in our next issue but a mention is made in our report appearing on under Educationlink of this edition.
Global catalyst
Mr Mannothra said that the proposed Adani-Zindia Timber Industrial Park (AZ-TIP) will be the largest project of its kind in India promoted by a New Zealand forestry company in India.
“It will catalyse the promotion of a world class timber industry which will help the infrastructure development of India, encourage the use of sustainably produced, environment friendly, plantation derived, forestry products sourced primarily from New Zealand. Being a Port-based Industrial Park, coupled with efficient rail-linked nationwide distribution system, it will be cost effective and have low carbon footprint,” he said at the signing ceremony.
He said that for New Zealand forest industry, the Park will provide one of the largest growing markets for its sustainable plantation based forest industry.
“It has potential for primary value addition onshore in New Zealand and re-manufacturing on an unprecedented scale in India. The strategic location of the Park in the Mundra Port region will open up the 1.3 billion-strong Indian market and be a gateway to another billion people in the Middle East, North Africa and Europe for manufactured wood products,” he added.
Creating jobs
Mr Adani said that the Project will add significant number of jobs in India and create the development of clusters of timber based SMEs in India.
“We are also promoting state-of-the-art New Zealand technology. We will be setting up training schools which will upskill Indians in timber industry and logistics and uplift the standard of living for the workers,” he said.
Mr Key said that his government welcomes and supports such initiatives.
Venkat Raman was a part of the Media delegation that accompanied Prime Minister John Key during his official visit to India from October 25 to October 28, 2016
Photo Caption:
Jacob Mannothra (right) and Karan Adani signing the MoU in New Delhi on October 26.
