Indo-Japan MoU takes Varanasi to Kyoto
India
and Japan on Saturday signed an agreement to develop the age-old Varanasi city
using the experience of Kyoto, the 'smart city' of Japan, in the presence of
Prime Minister Narendra Modi and his Japanese counterpart Shinzo Abe.
Varanasi,
which Prime Minister Narendra Modi represents in the Lok Sabha, will be
developed into a 'smart city' on the Kyoto model.
A
Partner City MoU was signed by Indian Ambassador Deepa Wadhwa and Kyoto Mayor
Daisaka Kadokawa at a ceremony witnessed by Modi and his Japanese counterpart
Shinzo Abe.
The
MoU, which was signed soon after Modi's arrival in Japan, on a five-day visit,
provides for cooperation in heritage conservation, city modernisation and
cooperation in the fields of art, culture and academics, External Affairs
Ministry spokesman Syed Akbaruddin told reporters.
This
will serve as framework for Smart heritage city programme between the two
countries, he added. Kyoto, which is a heritage city with Buddhist culture,
provides special symbolism to the visit as the Prime Minister has the vision of
"rejuvenating" Indian cities.
Under
the MoU, a detailed roadmap of cooperation will be prepared which will form the
base for further understanding.
Both
cities shall endeavor to strengthen exchanges and cooperation in the agreed
fields based on principles of equality and mutual respect and benefit and
continuously exchange information and opinion in the agreed areas and cooperate
in important fields.
After
the signing of the pact, Abe hosted a dinner for Modi who has embarked on the
visit with "great expectations" and hope that a "new
chapter" would be written in the bilateral ties while taking the Strategic
and Global Partnership to a higher level.
Before
the dinner, Modi and Abe participated in a special ceremony called 'Feeding the
Fish', a ritual in Japan because of the belief that it gives strength and
perseverance to the fish.
Modi
arrived at the Osaka International Airport earlier in the day to begin the
first leg of his five-day visit to Japan, his first bilateral visit outside the
subcontinent as
the
Prime Minister.
Modi
and Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe will have substantive summit meeting in
Tokyo on September 1 during which the two sides will look at ways to take the
Strategic and Global Partnership forward.
Modi
has a substantive agenda during the trip which he hopes will "write a new
chapter" in bilateral ties and take the Strategic and Global Partnership
to a higher level.
No comments:
Post a Comment