India, France ink agreement on sustainable urban development

India and France have signed an agreement on sustainable urban development to share knowledge and best practices in the urban sector, the official Press Information Bureau (PIB) said Monday. India’s Minister for Urban Development Kamal Nath and French Minister for Foreign Trade Nicole Bricq signed the agreement. The implementation of this agreement will take place under the aegis of the Indo-French Joint Working Group on Urban Development comprising representatives from the Ministry of Urban Development (India) and the Ministry of Regional Equality and Housing and the Ministry of Ecology, Sustainable Development & Energy (France). Earlier, at the ministerial level talks, both ministers expressed satisfaction at the maturity reached in the strategic relations between India and France. They discussed ways to enhance economic and commercial relations between the countries. Nath briefed the French Minister on the recent decisions taken by the Government of India to further liberalise the Foreign Direct Investment (FDI) regulations in India and reiterated the Government’s commitment to continuing with liberalization of the Indian economy. He also stated that both India and France would benefit from the Agreement as it would provide an enabling platform for the officials, professionals, business leaders and local self-governing bodies to meet and share knowledge and best practices in the urban sector. Nath hoped this Joint Declaration would lead to enhanced co-operation and deepen the engagement between the two countries. He invited the international firms including French firms to participate in the process of making cities greener and more sustainable, PIB said.