U.S.-India University Partnership Boosts Competitiveness of Indian Commodities

May 16, 2005

CHENNAI, May 12 - Agribusiness leaders, academics and policymakers gather today at a U.S.-supported management workshop in Coonoor, Tamil Nadu to explore ways and means to increase the competitiveness of Indian crops in domestic and international markets. The event is sponsored by the United States Agency for International Development (USAID) and is part of a broader partnership between American and Indian universities to revitalize agriculture and stimulate economic growth in India .

"Such partnerships expand people-to-people and institutional ties between our countries. It makes our strategic partnership more comprehensive," says George Deikun, Mission Director of USAID India.

"Fruitful collaborations between the U.S. and India from the Green Revolution of the 1960s to today have created lasting, productive relationships between our agricultural communities that benefit both democracies," he says.

Faculty from U.S.-based Cornell University will lead sessions on food processing, agricultural biotechnology, food retailing and international marketing standards to share their expertise with Indian agricultural scientists and businesses. The program was facilitated by a working partnership between Cornell University and Tamil Nadu Agricultural University .

This is a forum for the extended Indian agricultural community to learn about how to access global markets, and set a curriculum agenda for Indian universities that supports competitiveness in business and industry, according to organizers.

Class work will continue in the U.S. following the six-day management workshop. Participants will visit Cornell University in June to attend lectures and visit agri-business firms in New York State and regulatory agencies in Washington , D.C.

A series of higher education partnership grants from USAID and between colleges and universities in the U.S. and India underwrites this and other higher education collaborations. The agricultural university information exchanges aim to strengthen rural economies and stimulate wider economic growth in India .

India-based Sathguru Management Consultants is a co-organizer of the workshop.