India, Spain to partner for high speed railways

India and Spain are set to partner each other in the railways sector with a view to cooperate in the high speed rail category, after a delegation of the latter nation had a detailed discussion with the Railway Board on Monday.

"We had a meeting with the Railway Board of India and the meeting was very successful. We feel that cooperation in the railways sector is very important for our two nations," Spanish Minister of State for Commerce Jaime Garcia Legaz said.

"Spain has the second largest high speed train network in the world after China and the gap is closing fast," he added.

Among the other matters discussed was an upcoming Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) being signed between Spanish businessmen and the Confederation of Indian Industry (CII).

The visiting dignitaries also oversaw discussions pertaining to renewable energy and the construction of highways.

"With almost 25 percent of our energy coming from renewable sources, Spain has the highest percentage of renewable energy in Europe. We are eager to have India also increase its renewable energy production," Legaz said.

Legaz also confirmed that the delegation shall meet Union Urban Development Minister M. Venkaiah Naidu to discuss the 'Smart Cities' project.

"We are going to meet him tomorrow. The 'Smart Cities' project is one of the key areas of expertise and Barcelona is one such example of the 'Smart Cities' project," he stated.

Naidu had visited Barcelona last year to learn about the Smart Cities project and the implementation of it by the Spanish Government in association with various industrialists.