Over 100 participants attended the National Conference on Promoting Public–private-sector Partnerships in Enhancing Food Value Chains (FVCs) in New Delhi, India, on 3 and 4 November. The special country-specific APO program was supported by the Ministry of Food Processing Industries of India and implemented by the National Productivity Council.

The two-day conference aimed at assessing the present status of FVCs in India. It also reviewed the challenges and opportunities in enhancing FVC management and provided inputs to the Government of India for formulating proactive strategies to enhance the competitiveness of the country’s agricultural and food products in international markets.

The conference followed the presentation and case study format, led by two international resource persons and 16 from India. Secretary of the Ministry of Food Processing Industries Avinash Kumar Srivastava kicked off the conference with the opening remarks, and Dr. Navam Hettiarachchy of the Department of Food Science & Institute of Food Processing and Engineering of the University of Arkansas, USA, spoke on cold chain logistics for perishable food products. He also delved into issues and challenges in FVCs. Resource person from Japan Motoyuki Hazu, Executive Officer, Overseas Business Development Division, Nichirei Logistics Group Inc., shared the company’s experience in building efficient cold storage chains in Asia and Europe, as well as the cold chain logistics development in Japan.