India: PM Narendra Modi praises Dubai trade initiative to promote Indian spice

New Delhi:  Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi has praised an initiative by food traders in Dubai to promote Geographical Indication (GI) Tagged Kashmiri Saffron in the UAE.

"You will be delighted to know that after obtaining the GI Tag Certificate, Kashmiri Saffron was launched in a supermarket in Dubai. Now its exports will get a boost," Modi told Indians in his monthly radio address to the nation known as 'Mann ki Baat'.

The Prime Minister said "Kashmiri saffron is globally famous as a spice that has many medicinal properties. It has a strong aroma, its color is deep dark and its threads are long and thick which enhances its medicinal value." (It is also used to cook exotic South Asian and Arab culinary dishes.)

Spread the word

"In May this year, Kashmiri Saffron was given the Geographical Indication Tag. Through this, we want to make Kashmiri Saffron a globally popular brand," Modi told millions of Indians who tune into his radio broadcast regularly.

'A Geographical Indication is a sign used on products that have a specific geographical origin and possess qualities or a reputation that are due to that origin', according to the United Nations World Intellectual Property Organization (WIPO). All 193 UN members are also members of WIPO, which leads the international Intellectual Property system.

Broad push

The market launch of GI-Tagged Kashmiri Saffron in Dubai, which Modi referred to, was part of a UAE-India Food Security Summit earlier this month. The Summit was organized by the Consulate General of India in Dubai in association with the Confederation of Indian Industries and Invest India, the investment facilitation agency of the Indian government.

Dubai’s Al Maya Group took the initiative to promote GI-Tagged Kashmiri Saffron in the presence of Dr. Aman Puri, Consul General of India in Dubai and Navin K. Choudhary, Principal Secretary for Agriculture in the government of Jammu and Kashmir.