India, France sign pact to cut green house gas emissions in urban transport

India and France have signed an implementation agreement on "Mobilise Your City" (MYC) in the presence of Minister of State (Independent Charge), Ministry of Housing and Urban Affairs (MoHUA) Hardeep Singh Puri and Alexander Ziegler, Ambassador of France in India.

The agreement was signed by Mukund Kumar Sinha, OSD and Ex-Officio Joint Secretary, Ministry of Housing and Urban Affairs for India, while Regional Director, Agence Française de Developpement (AfD), Nicolas Fornage, signed the agreement on behalf of AfD.

MYC is part of an international initiative which is supported by the French and German Governments and was launched at the 21st Conference of Parties (COP21) meeting in December, 2015. Based on a proposal made by AFD in 2015, the European Union has agreed to provide funds of Euro 3.5 million through the AFD to contribute to specific investments and technical assistance components within the Mobilise Your City (MYC) programme in India.

The MYC will support three pilot cities -- Nagpur, Kochi and Ahmedabad -- in their efforts to reduce their Green House Gas (GHG) emissions related to urban transport by implementing urban mobility plans at the local level and to help India at a national level to improve their sustainable transport policy.

These three pilot cities will get technical assistance for planning and implementation of sustainable urban transport projects, strengthening institutional capacity for regulating, steering and planning urban mobility, and learn and exchange formats with other cities across India for exchanges on best practices.

-ANI