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CII, USEA to set up trade, environment working groups

Our Correspondent in Hyderabad

The Indo-US Green Business Centre or GBC, which will be inaugurated by US President Bill Clinton during his visit to Hyderabad tomorrow, will serve as a regional centre for South Asia and South-East Asia.

According to Confederation of Indian Industry or CII officials here, the model centre will be managed jointly by the US Energy Association and the Environment and Energy Division of Confederation of Indian Industry, with support from the United States Agency for International Development or USAID.

Earlier, the CII and the USEA also signed a memorandum of understanding today to set up a trade and investment working group on clean energy and environment.

The MoU, signed by CII president-designate Arun Bharat Ram and USEA executive director Barry K Worthington, says the group will be a private sector body and would provide inputs to boost Indo-US co-operation in clean energy and environment.

The group will promote private sector's role in transfer of energy efficient and environmentally sound technology and commercial development and demonstration of renewable and non-polluting energy sources.

The group will identify Indian and US firms to collaborate jointly on investment and technology transfer issues for this purpose.

The GBC will promote awareness on the need for energy efficiencies, clean energy technologies and green business processes. It will also benchmark the Indian firms according to international standards of energy efficiency and environmental impact, and facilitate business in these areas.

The centre will maintain a data-base for appropriate technologies and vendors. It will create markets for Indian information technology enterprises in giving systems support to US energy and environment-related businesses as well as in other Third World country projects.

It will also facilitate dialogue between the US and Indian governments to promote sustainable environmental policies.

The GBC will have full facilities for networking, data-basing, facilitating and executing projects for creating more green and environment-friendly industries.

It will focus on ISO-14001 implementation for industries, environmental bench-marking, greening the supply chain, clean technology and energy efficient projects and technologies and developing globally compatible and locally consistent energy and environmental policies.

Besides, the group intends to increase the use of market-based approaches for energy conservation and improved environmental management and spread knowledge of the benefits and widespread adoption of voluntary environmental management systems like ISO 14000.

The group will also develop agreed international rules and regulations including the market based clean development mechanism.

USEA represents 150 private and public energy-related organisations, corporations and government agencies in the United States.

With additional inputs from UNI

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Andhra Pradesh