Pledging for a plastic-free marine environment, India signs agreement with Germany
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New Delhi, Apr 20: The Ministry of Housing and Urban Affairs (MoHUA) and Deutsche Gesellschaft für Internationale Zusammenarbeit (GIZ) GmbH India on behalf of the German Federal Ministry of Environment has signed an agreement on Technical Cooperation at a virtual ceremony in New Delhi. The technical cooperation is titled ‘Cities Combating Plastic Entering the Marine Environment’ today.
Durga Shanker Mishra, Secretary, MoHUA said, “2021 marks 63 years of fruitful development cooperation between our two countries. It gives me great pleasure to kickstart this new endeavour with our German partner. The project’s outcomes are completely in line with the objectives of Swachh Bharat Mission-Urban focusing on sustainable solid waste management and Prime Minister’s vision to phase out single use plastic by 2022”.
The virtual event of signing an agreement also saw representatives from the state govts of Uttar Pradesh, Kerala and Andaman & Nicobar Islands and from the implementing cities of Kanpur, Kochi and Port Blair. The project is envisaged under the contours of the Joint Declaration of Intent regarding cooperation in the field of ‘Prevention of Marine Litter’ signed between Republic of India and Federal Republic of Germany in 2019.
According to the ministry, the project that aims at enhancing practices to prevent plastic entering the marine environment, will be undertaken at the national level, in the states of Uttar Pradesh, Kerala and Andaman & Nicobar Islands, in the cities of Kanpur, Kochi and Port Blair for a period of three and a half years. The new project is envisaged to be another successful collaborative effort under the Indo-German Bilateral Development Corporation working on sustainable urban transformation.