A Global Agro-Industries Forum - Improving competitiveness and development impact - will be held in New Delhi, India from 8 to 11 April 2008, organized by FAO in partnership with the United Nations Industrial Development Organization (UNIDO), the International Fund for Agricultural Development (IFAD) and the Government of India (GOI).

The Global Forum will bring together senior-level policy-makers from national and local governments, food industry leaders, UN technical agencies, civil society organizations and agro-industry specialists to foster the development of competitive agro-industries. The forum aims to raise awareness, exchange information, and promote partnerships for future action.

An e-forum will be conducted in preparation for twelve competitiveness round table discussions that will be conducted during the Global Forum. The purpose of this e-forum is two-fold:

(i) to take the roundtable discussions to the public in an effort to identify issues and experiences to be brought to the attention of the round table panellists; and

(ii) to highlight areas of interest and priorities for the Regional Workshops expected to be organized following the Global Forum.

The twelve competitiveness roundtables have been set up under three clusters to address what we consider to be the major drivers of agro-industrial competitiveness:

Cluster 1: Organization and Services: topic 1 Understanding markets; topic 2 Business linkages; topic 3 Organizing producers; and topic 4 Establishing clusters.

Cluster 2: Development and Innovation: topic 1 Meeting consumer requirements; topic 2 Branded and certified products; topic 3 Product development and innovation; topic 4 Human resources development.

Cluster 3: Operations and Enabling Environment: topic 1 Improving productivity; topic 2 Attracting Investment; topic 3 Improving efficiency; topic 4 Infrastructure development.

The e-forum can be accessed through the following web-site: http://www.gaif08.org/blog.

Each roundtable topic introduces a thought provoking proposition to stimulate the start of the discussion. We wish to invite your contribution to any or all of the round table subjects.

The e-forum commenced on 3 March and will continue up to the end of the Global Agro-industries Forum, 11 April 2008.

We look forward to a rewarding and dynamic exchange of opinions.

More information at:
http://www.gaif08.org/blog