Brussels, June 22 (UNI) External Affairs Minister Sushma Swaraj on Friday met with European Union High Representative Federica Mogherini and held detailed discussions on maximising full potential of India - EU strategic partnership.
Addressing a high-level meet on Climate Change, she said India's commitment to combat climate change is rooted in the traditional ethos, which considers the Earth as Mother.
"A majority of India’s a billion plus population is dependent on Mother Earth and its rivers, seas, land, and forests for all things required for sustenance including food, water, jobs, health, and energy," she said.
"We are also optimistic people, who believe in humanity’s ability to tide over seemingly insurmountable problems. We will continue to work with all stakeholders for our common well-being," the Minister said.
"EAM @SushmaSwaraj met with the EU High Representative Federica Mogherini @FedericaMog. Excellent discussions on maximising full potential of India - EU strategic partnership, including implementation of the decisions taken at the previous India-EU Summit in 2017," MEA spokesman Raveesh Kumar tweeted.
Making introductory remarks at the High Level Event on Climate Change here, she said "We must bear in mind that the capacity of developing countries to translate their political commitments into tangible initiatives and projects gets constrained by lack of predictable, sustained and adequate finances and technologies".
She said there is need for helping the developing countries make transition to cleaner technologies.
"....the world needs a roadmap for finance and technology if we have to achieve the goals set out in the Convention and its Paris Agreement. In its absence, developing countries will face serious constraints in achieving their existing Nationally Determined Contributions (NDCs)," she said.
"Any expectations of them to enhance their ambitions should be matched with enhanced support," the Minister said.
She made India's position clear on this Prime Minister Narendra Modi has already committed the responsibilities towards climate change. "....we are willing to take lead in mitigating its effects," she said adding India has set for itself a target of generating 175 Giga Watts of solar and wind energy by 2022.
"We have undertaken Mission mode action to provide electricity to every household and cleaner sources of cooking fuel to poor women. We have installed over three hundred million LED bulbs across India. We would have not only reduced the emission intensity of our GDP by 25 per cent over 2005 levels by 2020, but are also committed to further reduce it by 33 to 35 percent over 2005 levels by 2030 as part of our Nationally Determined Contributions (NDCs)," Ms Swaraj said.
The Minister also said that the scale of resources required for the ambitious and effective achievement of the Paris Agreement or the 2030 Agenda is enormous.
"The need for global partnerships, in this regard, is recognised in these processes and is at the core of all solutions offered therein."
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