New Zealand Prime Minister John Key
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. Source: Indian News Link
Zindia Managing Director Jacob Mannothra 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 26 October 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 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.
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,” he said.
“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 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,” Mr Mannothra said.
“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.” added.
Mr Adani said that the project will add a 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 up-skill 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.
