'India could lead the world in clean energy'

New Delhi, February 16: The UN Secretary-General’s special envoy for cities and climate change Michael R. Bloomberg on Monday sought to strengthen US-India economic partnership through relaxed US immigration measures for Indian students and businessmen, and said India was poised to become a “leader” in clean energy the world could learn from. Addressing the “Renewable energy-invest 2015: First renewable energy global investors meet and expo” here, Bloomberg said: “If it were up to me, our federal government would fix our immigration system so that Indians who study in the US could stay in the US and give back to our economy... Indians who want to do business in the US should easily be able to get visas.” “I have been urging our leaders in Washington, D.C. to take those steps, and I will continue doing that. The closer the economic partnership between the two countries, the stronger we both will be,” he said.

Union Minister of State for Power, Coal, and New and Renewable Energy Piyush Goyal sought to project India as a new destition of investment for renewable energy in view of its ambitious alterte energy programme with a target of 15 percent of total generation capacity by 2020. He said the pre-requisite to achieving the target was to “make it easier to do business (in India), have consistent policies, ensure our investors that this country is a good place to do business, have bankable contracts, and rule of law in this country”. In view of India’s potential as the world’s fastest-growing economy, Bloomberg said the US is confident of the country’s future, adding that President Barack Obama’s January visit to India was of special interest to business leaders back home. (IANS)