New Delhi: As part of the sixdecade old Indo-Germany Development Cooperation, Germany will provide funds to
the tune of 765 million Euros in 2018 for undertaking various developmental works in India, including big-ticket projects like the Smart Cities Mission and Clean Ganga.
Making the announcement, Dr Claudia Warning, Director General for Asia at the German Federal ministry for Economic Cooperation, said, “This amount is part of bulk sanctioned funding of 9.4 Bn Euros as was sanctioned around 2013”.
Speaking on the occasion, German Ambassador to India Martin Ney said among various projects under the Development Cooperation category, work projects vis-a-vis Smart Cities Mission in Bhubaneswar, Coimbatore and Kochi have been made ‘partner cities’.
Ms Warning said a formal protocol has been signed for the sanction of 765 million Euros for 2018.
Later, talking to UNI, she said,’ this is, however, modesty less than 800 Million Euros sanctioned in 2017.’ Among other projects, she said Germany looks forward for partnership in multiple fronts including sustainable energy.
“Besides being developmental partners, Germany and India are also political partners and both countries negotiate in international fora on important global issues….India as we know will be one of the most focused countries in climate change issue,” she said.
Both Ms Warning and envoy Martin Ney said Germany will continue to support India in various projects including development of sustainable energy solutions, reducing carbon emissions, protecting biodiversity and building better lives for the people.
Ambassador Ney said the cooperation between two countries in 2018 especially has a special significance as India and Germany celebrate 60 years of development cooperation.
“The importance of this partnership is underlined by the annual inter-governmental negotiations on development cooperation,” Mr Ney said adding between 2013 and 2018, Germany has pledged 6.428 million for new projects.
“With an overall development cooperation portfolio of about Euro 9.35 billion, India is the largest recipient of German bilateral Official Development Assistance,” Mr Ney said.
Source: UNI
