INDIA AND UNITED KINGDOM SIGN
MoU FOR COOPERATION IN POWER SECTOR
The
Minister of Power, Heavy Industry and Public Enterprises Shri
Suresh Prabhu who is on a visit to the United Kingdom, signed
a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) on Cooperation in the Power
Sector with the Secretary of State for Trade and Industry, Mrs.
Patricia Hewitt in London yesterday.
The MoU provides
for the establishment of a Joint Power Sector Working Group for
promoting and facilitating reform in the power sector. It also
envisages undertaking of various measures to facilitate development
of power sector, exchange of experts and sharing of information,
experiences and best practices. The concerned ministers of the
two countries will be the Patrons of this group, which will meet
every year alternatively in each country to review the progress
of activities undertaken under the MoU. The first formal meeting
of the working group will be held during the visit of Mrs. Hewitt
to India being planned for January 2003.
In their discussions
after the signing of the MoU Shri Prabhu briefed Mrs. Hewitt on
the comprehensive reforms in the power sector being undertaken
by the Government of India on all fronts - policy, regulatory,
legislative and administrative and in all spheres - generation,
distribution, transmission, conservation and anti-theft measures.
He also mentioned various steps being taken by the Ministry of
Power to create awareness among the masses on the issue of power
reforms and tariff. Mrs. Hewitt welcomed India’s efforts in this
direction and offered that British experts, who were key to the
success of privatisation in the U.K., could be made available
for interaction with Indian authorities.
Shri Prabhu also
briefly touched upon the ongoing liberalisation and privatisation
in India and suggested that British companies should make use
of the changed business environment in the power sector and the
attractive opportunities offered by India as a business destination.
Both the Minister
of Power and the Secretary of State agreed that the MoU, which
only formalised the long standing understanding and interaction
between the Governments of India and the U.K., came at a right
time to provide further boost to existing cooperation and growing
ties between the two countries in trade and commerce.
