EU to promote cooperation between European, Indian cities

New Delhi April 26 (IANS) European Union (EU)-funded International Urban Cooperation programme (IUC) was officially launched in India on Wednesday.

According to a statement from the EU IUC will consolidate city-to-city pairing cooperation among Indian and EU cities which will work together to develop Local Action Plans in urban sustainable development including addressing the challenges emerging from the climate change.

Speaking at the launch Ambassador of the EU to India Tomasz Kozlowski said: The EU is already partnering with India on concrete initiatives on the ground related to offshore wind development solar parks and solar roof-tops energy efficiency and smart grids.

The EU together with the 28 European Member States are committed to be a credible long term partner for India to work on a clean energy future to implement climate commitments and to support India s urban transformation he added.

With the launch of the programme India and European cities can apply to the programme and the selected cities will be paired to work together on development plans.

The European Investment Bank has provided loans and credit lines for more than Euro 1.5 billion to support energy and climate related projects in India.

The programme will provide technical and operational support to Indian cities for adaptations needed to mitigate the impact of climate change.

The programme is a part of the global IUC programme which is currently operating in South East Asia Japan North America and Latin America will run in India until November 2019.

IUC will coordinate with government initiatives such as the AMRUT Mission as well as the 100 Smart Cities Mission.

The programme operates in the framework of the Paris Agreement for Climate Action and the UN Agenda 2030 for Sustainable Development Goals.

--IANS
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