- Saturday, April 20, 2024
By: Chandrashekar Bhat
INDIAN prime minister Narendra Modi on Saturday (30) called on Pope Francis at the Vatican and discussed with him issues including Covud-19, general global perspectives and maintaining peace and tranquillity.
It is the first-ever one-to-one meeting between Modi and Pope Francis, the head of the Catholic Church.
At the Vatican, Modi was accompanied by national security advisor Ajit Doval and external affairs minister S Jaishankar.
The Prime Minister also met Cardinal Pietro Parolin, secretary of state of the Vatican City State.
India, Italy to collaborate on green hydrogen
Modi also held an in-person meeting with his Italian counterpart Mario Draghi on the sidelines of the G20 Summit in Rome as the two countries sought to strengthen partnership in energy transition.
India and Italy have agreed to explore the development of green hydrogen, setting up renewable energy corridors and joint projects in the natural gas sector.
A joint statement issued after the meeting between the two leaders said they agreed to encourage joint investments of Indian and Italian companies in energy transition-related fields.
They agreed to “initiate a dialogue to support the development and deployment of green hydrogen and related technologies in India” as well as to “consider working together to support a large size green corridor project in India to capitalise on India’s target to produce and integrate 450 GW of renewable energy by 2030.”
Modi and Draghi also agreed to “encourage Italian and Indian companies to develop joint projects in the natural gas sector, technological innovation for decarbonisation, smart cities and other specific domains – electrification of urban public transport.”
India set an ambitious target of building capacity to generate 450 gigawatts of electricity from renewable sources such as solar and wind and more than double the share of natural gas in its energy basket to 15 per cent by 2030 as its transitions to a low carbon-emitting economy.
It is also looking at scaling up hydrogen production from all sources, particularly green hydrogen as part of its energy transition pathway.
A joint working group established by a memorandum of understanding on cooperation in the field of Energy, signed in Delhi on October 30, 2017, will be tasked to explore cooperation in areas such as smart cities, mobility and smart-grids, the joint statement said.
The group will also explore cooperation in electricity distribution and storage solutions; gas transportation and promoting natural gas as a bridge fuel; integrated waste management (waste-to-wealth); and green energies.
The two leaders also agreed to “share useful information and experiences especially in the field of policy and regulatory framework, including possible means to facilitate the transition to cleaner”.
They acknowledged significant progress in bilateral relations since the adoption of the Action Plan for an enhanced Partnership between India and Italy (2020-2024) on November 6, 2020.
(PTI)
