Surat: Surat city has entered into a two-year technical knowledge exchange agreement with Rotterdam city of Netherlands on Thursday. This agreement focuses on water security for Surat.
This agreement was signed at Surat under the European Union’s urban cooperation programme. Under the agreement, Surat and Rotterdam will enter into a partnership for sustainable growth.
European Union’s Indian representative Piearro Rematti signed the agreement with Surat municipal commissioner M Thennarasan in presence of city mayor Asmita Shiroya and other elected representatives of Surat Municipal Corporation (SMC).
“Surat will get technical and logistics aid for period of two years under this agreement along with training facilities. The city will also benefit immensely in the field of water security from the Dutch city,” said an SMC official.
As Surat is one of the fastest growing cities in the country, EU decided to first link up with Surat, before taking up similar associations with 11 other cities of India and EU.
“This agreement will provide Surat with an avenue of obtaining modern technology and the international funding required for sustainable growth,” the SMC official said.
SMC commissioner M Thennarasan said, “Main focus will be on water security for Surat in the future. Rotterdam has expertise in it as they underwent similar crisis with their river Rhine and overcame it by creating small reservoirs for water storage.”
