NOVEMBER 12: Prime Minister Narendra Modi and Prime Minister David Cameron have announced three UK-India city partnerships with Indore, Pune and Amaravati to support India’s ambitious urban development goals through technical assistance, expertise sharing and business engagement.
Both the ministers welcomed the development of technical assistance partnership between the UK Department of International Development and the Indian Ministry of Urban Development for national and state-led support for the development of smart and sustainable cities that are drivers of inclusive growth and job creation.
A new Thames/Ganga partnership for healthy river systems have also been launched. This partnership will consist of a collaborative programme of research and innovation to enable the sustainable management of water resources in the Ganga basin and a policy expert exchange in 2016 supported by the UK Water Partnership.
The two Prime Ministers welcomed the adoption of the Post-2015 Development Agenda ‘Transforming our World: the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development’ and committed to supporting its implementation. They recognised that the new 2030 Agenda along with the Sustainable Development Goals has poverty eradication as its overarching focus.
Satisfied with the progress made at the 2015 India-UK Cyber Dialogue, they supported an open, inclusive, transparent, and multi-stakeholder system of internet governance and welcomed the ongoing review of the World Summit on the Information Society by the United Nations General Assembly. They planned to work together to promote cyber security, combat cyber crime, and advance voluntary norms of responsible state behaviour and the application of international law in cyberspace.
They agreed to improve cooperation between their technical, law enforcement, cyber R&D, cyber security standards & testing and capacity building institutions. They also agreed to promote public-private partnerships to support all aspects of cyber security. They welcomed the 2015 report of the UN Group of Governmental Experts on international cyber security and looked forward to seeking broader agreement on principles guiding state behaviour in cyberspace. They also expressed the need for both India and UK to participate and actively cooperate in these areas in the future.
