Indo-US co-op in field of smart cities will endure: Carlson

The Indo-US cooperation in the field of smart cities, which began in 2014, will endure in the coming times, US Embassy Deputy Chief of Mission MaryKay Carlson said today.
"I can say with conviction that our smart cities partnership with India will endure," she said at a workshop on Smart Cities here.
The partnership will endure due to the commitment to building on the tremendous progress already made to help make India's cities smart, efficient, and prepared for sustainable growth in the decades ahead, Carlson said.
While the first phase of master planning for the city of Vizag has been completed, the second phase is now underway, helping to define specific ways that Vizag's citizens can benefit from improvements in water treatment, urban transport, energy, healthcare and education, she said.

"We also completed what we call a 'Reverse Trade Mission' for officials from the state of Andhra Pradesh, who traveled to New York City, Washington DC, and San Francisco last February to meet with companies and policy-makers regarding sustainable urban development.
"We plan to take a group from Rajasthan to the United States next month for a similar exchange, and will be focusing on UP in 2017," the Deputy Chief De Mission said.
Carlson said smart cities is a key pillar in the US-India CEO Forum discussions as also one of bilateral "work streams" in the government-to-government strategic and commercial dialogue.

She said much has already been accomplished with our US-India Smart City collaboration since it began in earnest back in 2014, when the Prime Minister invited us to be part of India's Smart Cities directive.