India-Japan shakes hands to bolster ‘energy ties’ for easy access and combat climate change
New Delhi, May 2: India-Japan mutually nods to bolster energy projects in Asia and Africa especially. Oil minister Dharmendra Pradhan met Japan’s Minister of Economy, Trade and Industry Seko Hiroshige and discussed the possibilities of working on Joint Venture (JV) projects in the energy sector in Asia and Africa.
“Dwelled on India’s concrete plans of transforming into a gas-based economy. Explored opportunities for Japanese investments in India’s gas infrastructure. Discussed possibilities of JV projects in the energy sector in Asia & Africa,” Pradhan said in a Twitter post.
Hiroshige also met R K Singh, Minister for Power and Renewable Energy, at the 9th India Japan Energy Dialogue and agreed to initiate the discussion towards the development of next-generation Zero Emission vehicles.
He added that both the countries also discussed a framework for greater co-operation in building LNG infrastructure in India and Asia and discussed the abolition of destination restriction clause and reliable LNG sport price to achieve destination flexibility and cargo swapping between India and Japan.
Minister Pradhan had last week announced India’s aim of creating a network between China, Japan, South Korea and India in order to increase Asia’s bargaining power on crude imports.
Both Japan and India, as the third and the seventh largest economies respectively, recognized that having access to reliable, clean and economical energy is critical for their economic growth and in achieving this, both Ministers agreed on further strengthening of bilateral energy cooperation for energy development of both countries, while also contributing to worldwide energy security, energy access and climate change issues.
Both India and Japan with a view to implementing Nationally Determined Contributions (NDCs) under the aegis of the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC) recognized the importance of development and deployment of next-generation technologies including hydrogen to realize de-carbonization.