New Delhi, 15th October 2019

Union Minister of Commerce & Industry and Railways, Piyush Goyal addressed the curtain raiser event in New Delhi today for the 5th World Coffee Conference (WCC) & Expo to be held in Bengaluru from September 7-12, 2020. This is the first time that the World Coffee Conference and Expo will be held in Asia.

During his address Commerce and Industry Minister urged the Coffee Board of India and the International Coffee Organization (ICO) to bring in innovation to the conference and expo by crowd sourcing ideas from citizens. He further urged ICO and Coffee Board of India to look at ways that will make Indian coffee a brand that is recognised worldwide and formulate ways to make India a sustainable destination for coffee.

Commerce and Industry Minister also said that methods may be explored to make coffee farmers stakeholders in the value chain as this will have a positive impact on the 25 million families who depend on coffee cultivation the world over. The Minister suggested that a rupee may be added to every cup of coffee that is bought all over the world by coffee lovers and this can be given to the coffee growers, to make a positive impact on the lives of coffee growers and their families.

Commerce and Industry Minister said that the Government of India and the Government of Karnataka will extend full co-operation for the success of the 5th World Coffee Conference (WCC) & Expo to be held in Bengaluru from September 7-12, 2020. This is a great opportunity that India has got and the Coffee Board of India will welcome to India participants from more than 70 countries for the Expo and Conference, said the Minister.

During this year long period of preparation, Piyush Goyal urged the ICO to commission studies that will assuage concerns regarding the harmful effects of caffeine.

The World Coffee Conference & Expo in Bengaluru is expected to be attended by delegates of all 76 member countries of the ICO and over 1000 attendees, including coffee growers, exporters, representatives from government, private sectors and international agencies.

India will be hosting the WCC 2020 as it is the 5th largest export and producer in the coffee in the world and is emerging as the major coffee consuming country. The Government of India has also a strong focus on increasing coffee plantation. The global community also desires to connect with coffee growers in India and Asia and WCC 2020 offers an opportunity to explore India and Asia to the global coffee community. Bengaluru is the coffee capital of India and produces nearly 70% of India’s coffee

The proposed theme of WCC 2020 is sustainably through consumption because the world coffee production is increasing and having a negative impact on coffee prices, this can be offset by increasing consumption, therefore consumption is the key to sustainability. The focus will be on economic, agriculture, commercial, environmental, social and cultural impact.

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MM/ SB