Japan International Cooperation Agency (JICA) held “India-Japan Seminar on Environment Solutions” in Varanasi City on 17 November 2015.

The Seminar was an important opportunity to discuss cooperation between Japan and India in Varanasi, including the efforts undertaken for Kyoto-Varanasi Partnership, which was announced at the time of the Japan-India summit meeting when Prime Minister Modi visited Japan September last year. The seminar will be participated by high-level representatives and experts from both Japan and India, including Honorable Minister of State for Urban Development, Housing and Urban Poverty Alleviation, Mr. Babul Supriyo Baral, Honorable Commissioner of Varanasi Division, Mr. Nitin Gokarn, Honoroble Mayor of Varanasi City, Mr. Ram Gopal Mohale, and representatives of City of Kyoto and Deputy Chief of Mission, Embassy of Japan, Mr. Yutaka Kikuta. (For further details, please refer to attachment 1)

The highlights of the seminar are as follows:

(i) Japan and India shared the knowledge on issues related to sewage and hygiene, toilet and waste management;

(ii) City of Kyoto shared its knowledge and experience on landscape conservation guidelines (e.g. advertisement regulation), in which Varanasi City expressed keen interest;

(iii) SEEDS Asia, Japan’s NGO gave briefing on its disaster management project launched in Varanasi. (Kick off meeting for this project was organised on the 16th of November 2015 in Varanasi. For further details, please refer to attachment 2)

For further information, please contact:

JICA India: Tachikawa.Ai@jica.go.jp

If you have inquiries on SEEDS Asia project, please contact:

SEEDS Asia: maiko.miyazaki@seedsasia.org