IDF World Dairy Summit 2018

“ A good team of dairy professionals, Central Government officers including the members of Indian National Committee (INC) of IDF and representatives of NDDB, Cooperative milk unions, dairy scientists, IDA President and private sector dairies are going to participate at the WDS 2018 in South Korea. The INC will make a strong presentation to the IDF General Assembly on 14 October to win the bid for hosting the next WDS 2022 in New Delhi.

With its head quarters located in Brussels, Belgium, the International Dairy Federation (IDF) represents the global dairy sector and ensures that best available scientific expertise is used to support high quality nutritious milk and safe dairy products for human use. The growing world population needs nutritional security. The IDF provides the mechanism for feeding the world with safe and sustainable dairy products. IDF also provides science based expertise and consensus for the global dairy sector to frame right policies, standards, practices and regulatory framework through inter-governmental organizations like ISO, FAO, DIE Codex and the Joint Panel of FAO/WHO for programmes related with the formulation of standards and analytical methods for testing of dairy foods. IDF has been creating and improving dairy products standards for nearly 12 decades. IDF organizes international workshops, symposia, conferences and technical consultative committee meetings on multiple topics related with dairy sciences, technology, animal health and disease control, nutrition, standards, economics, marketing, safety, quality and regulatory issues besides sustainability. These programmes directly influence the international trade and marketing of dairy commodities.

In her Presidential address, Dr. Judith Bryans, during the IDF Annual Meeting of 2016-17,mentioned “We have seen increasing pressure from anti-dairy groups and the continued misuse of dairy terms. The IDF's work in nutrition and on environment is key to promoting the benefits of dairy within a healthy diet and its role in helping to maintain a healthy planet for future generations.” These remarks hold a great relevance to the existing statutory and regulatory regime as applicable to Indian dairy industry.

South Korea is hosting the IDF World Dairy Summit (WDS), 2018 in Daejeon city from 14 to 18 October with the theme “Dairy for the Next Generation”. IDF is bringing together the global dairy community on a single platform to help nourishing the world with safe and sustainable dairy. WDS will explore emerging issues and offer inspiring prospects for the world dairy industry. The Summit will provide an unique opportunity to identify common agenda and share the learnings based on scientific knowledge with the global counterparts. The world's leading experts will converge in South Korea to share experiences and perspectives about the dairy value chain after examining the current issues, challenges and opportunities. South Korean dairy sector will reap rich dividends in a situation where farm gate prices for milk are maximum, there is a lack of land for dairy farming with high labour costs, narrow profit margins and heavy dependence on imports of dairy products to meet South Korea's demand for milk and milk products.

A good team of dairy professionals, Central Government officers including the members of Indian National Committee (INC) of IDF and representatives of NDDB, Cooperative milk unions, dairy scientists, IDA President and private sector dairies are going to participate at the WDS 2018 in South Korea. The INC will make a strong presentation to the IDF General Assembly on 14 October to win the bid for hosting the next WDS 2022 in New Delhi. Indian dairy sector shall greatly benefit from the knowledge and experiences of global dairy leaders about the technological innovations, R&D efforts in new product development, marketing, networking, productivity enhancement, dairy supply management, food safety and quality and environmental issues. India will have ample opportunity to showcase the phenomenon growth and developments in Indian dairy industry to world leaders. The opportunity to host WDS in India comes after the year 1974, when the IDF organized its World Dairy Congress in Delhi. The impressive growth in Indian dairy industry is receiving worldwide acclamation.