India Wants Trade “Not Hand-Outs”

Press, Volume CVI, Issue 31190, 14 October 1966, Page 3

India Wants Trade “Not Hand-Outs”

(New Zealand Press Association) WELLINGTON, October 13. New Zealand should increase its imports from India, so that India would buy more New Zealand dairy produce, the chairman of the Dairy Development Board of India (Dr. V. Kurien) said today.

Dr. Kurien, who is in New Zealand at the invitation of the Dairy Board, said that India, . unlike other Asian countries, fully appreciated the value of milk. “While it is possible for us to increase our own milk production, there is almost certainly need for importing seme dairy products,” he said. “It is not possible to meet the demand for dairy products on our own. We must supplement it by imports.” Dr. Kurien said that while he was in New Zealand he

would discuss his country’s needs. “The impression has got around that India is looking for hand-outs,” he said. “I am not looking for hand-outs, but foi trade. I want to buy.” Many Indians were vegetarians, and the only animal protein available to them was milk. “We need milk powder badly, so it rests with New Zealand to buy the things India has to offer.” Light engineering goods were the products Dr. Kurien suggested New Zealand could purchase from India in return for dairy orders. “Our traditional exports are tea and jute, but people know that India has a variety of industrial goods to offer.” Various types of steel, telephones, boilers and refrigeration equipment might also interest New Zealand.