Japan to assist India with development of three smart cities

Japan has decided to assist India with the development of Chennai, Ahmedabad and Varanasi as smart cities.

The same was conveyed on Thursday by Japan's Ambassador to India Kenji Hiramatsu during his meeting with Urban Development Minister M. Venkaiah Naidu.

Hiramatsu said that Japan is quite interested in urban development initiatives of the Government of India and decided to be a partner, said a statement.

Responding to Naidu's observation about the need for speedy action, Japan's Envoy said "We would like to match the action oriented approach of the Government under Prime Minister Shri Modi".

High Commissioner of United Kingdom Dominic Asquith also met Naidu and discussed converting into action the MoU signed between the two countries on cooperation in urban development sector during the recent visit of British Prime Minister Theresa May to India.

He said institutionalizing government to government cooperation for smart city development has huge potential.

So far, leading countries have come forward to be associated with development of 15 Indian smart cities.

These include United States Trade Development Agency (USTDA) for Visakhapatnam, Ajmer and Allahabad, UK for Pune, Amaravati and Indore, France for Chandigarh, Puducherry and Nagpur and Germany for Bhubaneswar, Coimbattore and Kochi.