UK, India sign agreements on climate change

New Delhi [India], December 17  : United Kingdom’s foreign secretary Dominic Raab on Thursday concluded his three-day visit to India with the signing of a series of agreements in Bengaluru signalling the UK’s strong partnership with India on climate change.
According to an official statement, Raab met the Chief Minister of Karnataka BS Yediyurappa to discuss strengthening UK and Karnataka relations in key areas, including higher education, trade, and investment. During the meeting, he oversaw the signing of a British Council and Karnataka Government MoU which will accelerate cooperation in Higher Education partnerships, as well as increase student exchanges between Karnataka and the UK.
UK’s CDC Group, India’s National Investment and Infrastructure Fund (NIIF), and the Green Growth Equity Fund announce 290m Pound (USD386m) investment to boost green energy transition, the High Commission said.
The UK and India will co-invest 1.5m Pound in the Neev fund to support green recovery.
Speaking at a sustainability showcase held at the Indian Institute of Science in Bengaluru, UK Foreign Secretary Dominic Raab said, “The UK and India partnership is helping to create a cleaner, greener planet and our joint investment in the Neev fund will help give entrepreneurs and their ideas the opportunity to grow.”
“I saw this collaboration in action when I met entrepreneurs who are already at the cutting edge of India’s clean growth transition and heard about projects like Blue Planet, which is finding environmentally friendly solutions to waste management and Chakr, which is working to reduce emissions from diesel generators,” Raab said.
Earlier, the Foreign Secretary met the key members of the Indian business community to discuss trade opportunities.
The UK foreign secretary is in India for a three-day visit from Delhi to Bengaluru from December 14 to 17. During his visit, he met Prime Minister Narendra Modi, other ministers and also visited a vaccine distribution centre.
In Bangalore, the foreign secretary also met research staff at the Indian Institute of Science working on a 13m Pound research project, a global challenges research fund project, which will deliver two demonstration buildings in India capable of meeting their own energy needs at the same time as supplying energy to the local grid, the High Commission said.