New Delhi, Jan 20: The Centre’s Department of Fisheries is organising a roundtable conference with ambassadors and high commissioners of 83 partner countries for promoting seafood exports on January 21, it was announced on Tuesday.
India ranks as the sixth-largest exporter of fish and fishery products. In 2024–25, seafood exports reached 16.98 lakh metric tonnes, valued at Rs 62,408 crore ($7.45 billion), contributing nearly 18 per cent to India’s total agricultural exports.
The event will be chaired by Minister of Fisheries, Animal Husbandry and Dairying, Rajiv Ranjan Singh, in the presence of Ministers of State George Kurian and S.P. Singh Baghel. Ambassadors and High Commissioners from countries across Asia, Africa, Europe, North America, Oceania, and Latin America & the Caribbean will be attending the event.
Senior officials from Central ministries and international agencies such as the Food and Agriculture Organisation (FAO), Agence Française de Developpement (AFD), Deutsche Gesellschaft für Internationale Zusammenarbeit (GIZ), Bay of Bengal Programme (BOBP), Asian Development Bank (ADB), and the International Fund for Agricultural Development (IFAD) will also participate.
The conference serves as a key diplomatic and technical platform to enable structured dialogue on seafood trade, market access, regulatory cooperation, and emerging opportunities for deepening bilateral and multilateral partnerships.
According to an official statement, the deliberations will focus on promoting sustainable, traceable and value-added seafood trade, while identifying avenues for investment, joint ventures, technology transfer and capacity building.
Discussions will also focus on strengthening the resilience of seafood value chains to climate and market risks. Key thematic areas include global seafood trade trends and opportunities for market diversification; standards, certification and regulatory cooperation; traceability, digital reporting and compliance systems; sustainability and responsible sourcing; value addition, processing and product innovation; cold chain infrastructure, logistics and port connectivity; financing, partnerships and private sector engagement across the blue value chain; and digital and technological transformation in fisheries and aquaculture.
The deliberations will additionally highlight emerging global market dynamics such as rising demand for high quality, certified and sustainably sourced seafood, increasing consumption of aquaculture-based proteins in North America, Europe and East Asia, and expansion of premium product segments including ready to cook, ready to eat and nutraceutical-grade marine products.
These trends present significant opportunities for India to expand its market share through enhanced compliance with international standards, greater focus on value-added processing, species diversification, and leveraging India’s competitive strengths in aquaculture, processing capacity and a robust exporter base.
The outcomes of the conference are expected to contribute significantly towards strengthening food security, improving livelihoods across fisheries value chains, and advancing shared goals of sustainability, resilience and inclusive development, the statement added.
IANS
