'Renewable energy is shared interest’: MEA S Jaishankar at CARICOM-India meet
2 min read . Updated: 23 Apr 2023, 09:43 AM IST
Premium- The foreign minister acknowledged that there has been a weak uptake in programs, exchanges, and scholarships.
During the fourth India-CARICOM (Caribbean Community and Common Market) ministerial meeting held in Guyana, External Affairs Minister S Jaishankar highlighted the importance of pursuing shared interests in renewable energy to tackle climate change.
According to a report by ANI, Jaishankar also mentioned that India's G20 presidency is focused not only on the members of the group but also on countries outside it.
Delivering opening remarks at the meeting, Jaishankar said, "Energy, renewable energy particularly, is our collective interest. Many of you are members of the International Solar Alliance. I think 13 members are there from the CARICOM. I believe it's been of some help in capacity building, in some cases even funding. I'll be again open to take that help. Regarding capacity building as a whole, we have for many years now, under what we call, the ITEC programs."
The foreign minister acknowledged that there has been a weak uptake in programs, exchanges, and scholarships.
"My suggestion which I would like you to consider is, instead of our inviting you to participate in a general course, which we are doing globally for everybody, can we actually take domains or area specific areas which are of specific interest to the CARICOM. And we are prepared to customize programs in whatever area, which are completely dedicated only to the requirements of CARICOM officials or users as the case may be," Jaishankar said.
S Jaishankar travelled to Guyana on Friday, where he was received by Hugh Todd, the Minister of Foreign Affairs and International Cooperation. This is the first time Jaishankar has visited Guyana.
During his visit, Jaishankar mentioned the establishment of the Global Centre for Traditional Medicine in India, which has been approved by the World Health Organization (WHO). He highlighted that although much of the work is Indian, the center is open to incorporating traditional practices from all parts of the world.
In addition, Jaishankar talked about collaborating with the Caribbean Agriculture Research Institute, stating that there is an existing memorandum of understanding (MoU) between the institute and its Indian counterpart.
However, he pointed out that the MoU has not been put into action yet and suggested that it would be mutually beneficial to do so.