Will prepare plan on air cargo support to boost agri exports: Prabhu

Union Minister Suresh Prabhu said today that he has asked civil aviation ministry officials to prepare a plan for providing air cargo support to agricultural hubs to promote farm exports.
The commerce and industry minister, who also holds additional charge of the civil aviation ministry, said that draft policy to increase agricultural exports is ready and is being circulated for inter-ministerial views.
He said that effort would be made to provide air cargo support to the sector to promote exports of agri commodities.
"I have asked officers (of civil aviation ministry) to prepare a plan" to provide this support with a view to fast-tracking the movement of farm commodities," he said at the inauguration of international food processing and hospitality event at Pragati Maidan here.

Talking about hospitality sector, he said the Union Cabinet has recently approved an action plan for 12 champion services sectors, including IT, tourism and hospitality.
The fund, once set up, will support initiatives for sectoral action plans of the sectors.

"We are preparing a comprehensive plan for each sector," he said, adding that it will help address the issues being faced in these segments.
Speaking at a separate programme on counterfeiting, the minister asked the department of industrial policy and promotion (DIPP) to prepare a proper module for police to effectively enforce the laws related to intellectual property rights (IPRs).

He was addressing the national conference on counterfeiting and role of enforcement agencies.
President of the Film and Television Producers Guild of India Ltd Siddharth Roy Kapur suggested steps to check such practices and film piracy.
He asked the government to strengthen the IT Act and creation of a separate cyber crime cells in each states.
Tomasz Kozlowski, Ambassador of the European Union to India, said that enforcement of IPR laws are crucial to promote innovation.
He asked the DIPP to consider launching a cooperation project between India and the EU in the field of intellectual property and to establish a structured dialogue on the subject.

"This is for your consideration. We are ready to work on both these proposals," he added.
DIPP Secretary Ramesh Abhishek said that the ministry is taking several steps including increasing capacity for faster clearance of IPR applications.