Strategic Partnership on Water launched between India and the Netherlands
- May 6, 2021
- Posted by: Elaine Coles
- Category: Technology & Innovation, Water Issues, Asia, Europe
Strengthening Indian-Dutch strategic cooperation on water
A high-level summit between Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi and Dutch Prime Minister Mark Rutte took place on 9 April. A discussion on the water-related challenges that India faces and the expertise and experiences of the Netherlands led to the launch of the Strategic Partnership on Water between the two countries.
The progress made by the Joint Working Group on Water was noted and an agreement to elevate it to the ministerial level was made. The key areas of the Indian-Dutch cooperation are innovation, technology and governance.
The two leaders agreed to further intensify and broaden the cooperation in new areas, leading to the inclusion of the following new aspects:
- water budgeting;
- wastewater treatment and resource reuse
- AI-based decision support systems
- river pollution and abatement, including in the River Ganga
- decentralised treatment technologies
- river basin hazard management
- introduction of new water technologies
- basin protection against disasters
- mapping of ecosystem services
- capacity building through training programmes in cooperation with TUDelft & IHE-Delft
Water nexus themes such as agriculture and urban development as well as climate action were also topics of cooperation.
On-going projects in the water sector between the two countries include:
- Dutch India Water Alliance for Leadership Initiative (DIWALI)’ platform for designing solutions to water challenges supported by the Department of Science and Technology (DST) and the Netherlands Organisation for Scientific Research (NWO)
- Local Treatment of Urban Sewage Streams for Healthy Reuse (LOTUS-HR)’ joint collaboration funded by the Department of Biotechnology (DBT) and NOW
- Indo-Dutch R&D projects under Namami-Gange Programme.