Cabinet gives nod to India-Japan collaboration on sustainable urban development

The Union Cabinet on Wednesday approved a memorandum of cooperation with Japan in the field of sustainable urban development which is expected to create employment opportunities.

According to an official statement, the memorandum of cooperation (MoC) will be signed between the Ministry of Housing and Urban Affairs and Japan's Ministry of Land, Infrastructure, Transport and Tourism in supersession of an existing MoU of 2007 on urban development.

The MoC is expected to create employment opportunities in the areas of sustainable urban development, including urban planning, smart cities development, affordable housing, urban flood management, sewerage and waste water management, urban transport and intelligent transport management system, transit-oriented development, and multimodal integration and disaster resilient development.

The proposed memorandum of cooperation will enable exchange of key learnings and best practices, the statement said.

A Joint Working Group (JWG) will be constituted to strategise and implement programmes on cooperation under the framework of the MoC. The JWG will meet once a year, alternately in Japan and India.

The cooperation under this MoC will commence on the day it is signed and continue for a period of five years.

The agreement will promote strong, deep and long-term bilateral cooperation in the field of sustainable urban development between the two countries, the statement said.

The Union Cabinet was apprised of a memorandum of understanding signed between the Ministry of Housing and Urban Affairs and the Ministry of National Planning, Housing and Infrastructure of the Maldives on cooperation in the field of sustainable urban development.

The MoU was signed in February this year.

The objective of the MoU is to facilitate and strengthen India-Maldives technical cooperation in the field of sustainable urban development, including urban planning, smart cities development, solid waste management, affordable housing, urban green mobility and urban mass rapid transport, according to another statement.

''Important decisions taken by the Cabinet today. Focus on Sustainable Urban Development-Agreements approved with Maldives & Japan. Will generate employment opportunities & promote strong bilateral cooperation in Smart Cities Development, solid waste management & green mobility," External Affairs minister S Jaishankar tweeted.

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