NCCD (India) and Cemafroid (France) sign MOU for Cold-chain Development

April 7, 2013 - PRLog -- On the evening of 3 April 2013 at Paris, a MoU between NCCD and Cemafroid was established, as the beginning of a long term association between the two organizations and marking a further step in the implementation of the Indo-French Joint Working Group on Agriculture. The Indian dignitaries for the signing ceremony were headed by Mr. Sanjeev Chopra (Joint Secretary Ministry of Agriculture and Director NCCD) with Mr. Indra M. Pandey (Ambassador Designate of India to France), Capt. Pawanexh Kohli (Chief Advisor, NCCD) and Mr. Rakesh Sharma (First Secretary, Embassy of India). The dignitaries from France for the ceremony included Mr. Philippe Vinçon (Head of International Relations, Ministry of Agriculture), Mr. Gérald Cavalier (President of Cemafroid), Mr. Patrick Antoine (President AFF), Mr. Didier Coulomb (Director IIR), Mr. Cédric Prévost (Agriculture Attaché to Embassy of France in India).

This MoU is a milestone that heralds enhanced interaction between India and France in the field of cold-chain through knowledge sharing, technology development and capacity building. It is also expected that such close working at policy and technology levels will lead to pronounced business relations and promote mutually beneficial investments between these countries. Mr. Sanjeev Chopra said that the signing of this MoU signaled a close working partnership between France and India in the field of cold-chain. This was reiterated by Mr. Vinçon and Mr. Cavalier who added that France is keen to contribute more closely in this field and sees this as an opportunity for increased cooperation. Mr. Philippe Vinçon who jointly chairs the Indo-French Joint Working Group on Agriculture also added that this MoU was significant and strengthened relations with India, setting the stage for future collaborations.

Earlier, on the 3rd of April an Indian delegation led by Mr. Sanjeev Chopra, attended the International Conference for Sustainability and the Cold-chain at Paris. The delegation included cold-chain industry representation from India. India was invited as the Guest of Honor at this global conference and the Chief Advisor to NCCD made the plenary address to this forum. In his address, Mr. Pawanexh Kohli exemplified the challenges and the major successes of India’s cold-chain and provided an overview of the Indian government’s policies. This conference was organized by IIR-IIF (International Institute of Refrigeration), Cemafroid, AFF (Association Française du Froid) and Irstea (National Research Institute of Sciences and Technology for Environment and Agriculture) and forms part of the series to be held across the globe.

This 2nd IIR conference on cold-chain focused on Sustainable Development and future technologies. The conference was inaugurated by officials from the Ministry of Agriculture of France and involved a series of workshops over two days (3rd and 4th April 2013). The participants to this conference ranged from over 30 countries, from the global scientific and business communities. A representative from BITS Pilani (India) presented a scientific paper on the behavior of Carbon Dioxide as a refrigerant in India specific conditions. Other focused topics at this global cold-chain conference included refrigerants of the future, modeling & predictive solutions, energy efficiency, transport & storage innovations, solutions for pharmaceutical cold-chain, packaging and monitoring ideas, food quality & safety and carbon footprints.