India, Chi agree on closer cooperation in energy

New Delhi, Oct 14: India and Chi have agreed to cooperate in the energy sector, including on sourcing energy from intertiol markets, the Indian government said on Thursday. Releasing the minutes of the 4th India-Chi Strategic Economic Dialogue last week, an official statement here said the two sides called “for a joint strategy to meet the rising energy demand through appropriate policy measures and efforts in the intertiol energy markets.” The Indian side at the dialogue was led by Vice-Chairman of tiol Institution for Transforming India Arvind Pagariya, and the Chinese side was led by Xu Shaoshi, Chairman of Chi’s tiol Development and Reform Commission (NDRC).

On renewable energy, both sides agreed to speed up solar module manufacturing in India and expand cooperation in promoting solar rooftop systems. “India offered huge investment opportunities in the renewable energy sector by way of participating through equity support, offsetting hedging cost, taking up of masala bonds, partnering in the solar projects, among others,” the statement said.

“Chinese investors showed keen interest in fincial investment and participation in large solar park projects in cooperation with Solar Energy Corporation of India (SECI),” it added. The two countries also “agreed to push forward the feasibility study on Delhi-gpurhigh-speed railway and construction of Delhi-Cheni high-speed railway,” it said. They also agreed on closer cooperation on coastal manufacturing zone development by encouraging projects in areas like infrastructure, automobile, energy and electronics in next one year, it added.(IANS)