New Delhi, India | Monday, February 13, 2023
Urban Forum
The 3rd
India EU Urban Forum was conducted on 13th February 2023 at India
Habitat Centre, New Delhi to discuss implementation and financing strategies in
various sectors of urban development. The forum was organised jointly by
Ministry of Housing and Urban Affairs (MoHUA), Government of India (GoI) and
the Delegation of the European Union (EU) in India. It consisted of panel
discussions on smart cities, water and waste management and urban mobility with
interventions by panelists from India and the EU.
Deputy
Director General, Directorate General for Regional and Urban Policy (DG REGIO),
EU Commission, spoke at the opening session on smart cities together with Joint
Secretary, MoHUA and Head of Centre for Digital Governance, National Institute
of Urban Affairs (NIUA), Deutsche Gesellschaft für Internationale Zusammenarbeit (GIZ)
GmbH and Mumbai First on elements for an implementation approach for Smart
Cities.
The event indicated
a need to implement innovative and technology driven solutions for sustainable
urbanisation. A discussion was also made on how an emphasis on the common
ground of ‘network’ and ‘coverage’ in terms of implementation and
sustainability for water and solid waste management can improve service
delivery.
The event was
attended by over 100 participants including from MoHUA; EU Commission; European
Investment Bank (EIB); NIUA; Cyprus High Commission; Embassy of Italy; Embassy
of the Republic of Poland; Embassy of the Kingdom of Spain; Embassy of
Switzerland; NITI Aayog; Mumbai First; Municipal Corporation Chandigarh; Kochi Municipal
Corporation; GIZ; KfW; The Energy Research Institute (TERI); CEEI Albacete;
ICLEI South Asia; School of Planning and Architecture (SPA), New Delhi; PwC
India; etc.