Sep 5: NITI Aayog and German Federal Ministry for Economic Cooperation and Development (BMZ) told held the inaugural NITI-BMZ Dialogue of Development Cooperation via video conferencing.
On May 2, 2022, India and Germany signed a Joint Declaration of Intent on Partnership for Green and Sustainable Development (GSDP). During the last G7 summit in Schloss Elmau in June 2022, India and the G7 had agreed to work towards a Just Energy Transition Partnership (JETP).
Today’s Dialogue laid down a pathway to strengthen mutual cooperation between the two countries, particularly to reconcile the imperatives of dealing with climate change with the goals of Agenda 2030.
The NITI-BMZ Dialogue focused on five core areas of cooperation: Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs), climate action, energy transition, emerging technologies and agro-ecology. Both sides deliberated ongoing engagements and identified potential cooperation in areas that can produce tangible outputs and learnings for India and Germany.
India’s forthcoming G20 Presidency is of particular relevance in this regard. NITI Aayog Vice Chairman Mr Suman Bery drew attention to the Prime Minister focus on individual responsibility for sustainable behaviour, embodied in his Lifestyle for Environment (LiFE) initiative. In support of a green and sustainable development partnership, German Federal Minister Schulze today announced an additional funding of EUR 3.5 million, specifically for strengthening of implementation of SDGs and climate action at the level of Indian states.
Federal Minister Svenja Schulze said: “India is a global partner for Germany, the EU and the G7. We are very serious about a real long-term cooperation with India to achieve the Paris Climate Goals, the SDGs and in particular a just energy transition in India. An important basis for the long-term GSDP is to discuss and agree on transformational concepts and policies, be it in the energy transition, sustainable mobility, climate resilience or the agro-ecological transformation. This is why I held a dialogue with Shri Suman Bery and his team today. We are very much looking forward to the Indian G20 Presidency in 2023 and are ready to support India for a strong agenda on climate action and sustainable development.”
NITI Aayog Vice Chairman Shri Suman Bery said: “Germany is one of India’s most important partners. Indo-German partnership is as an example of success in a complex world. NITI-BMZ Dialogue in Development Cooperation will help our two nations realise our potential in embedding climate action in the SDGs, energy, emerging technologies and agro-ecology”.
NITI and BMZ reiterated their commitment on collaborating towards strengthening SDG localization at the city level and scaling-up SDG implementation in the context of climate change at the state level with capacity building and incentive systems for implementation.
During the discussion, both sides highlighted the need to deepen engagement on the Lighthouse Cooperation on Agroecology and Natural Resources and to collaborate on (i) scaling up natural farming in India (ii) strengthening research in different agro-climatic regions for natural farming practices, (iii) working towards standards and certification of natural farming products for facilitating export and (iv) evaluating impact of natural farming for mitigating climate change and adapting to climate risks.
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