India and Japan have decided to intensify cooperation in energy efficiency and conservation sector as well as environmental issues.

In the fifth meeting of the India-Japan Energy Dialogue in New Delhi today, Deputy Chairman of the Planning Commission Montek Singh Ahluwalia and Japanese Minister of Economy, Trade and Industry Yukio Edano stressed the need to expand the process of consultation between the public and private sectors to strengthen the bilateral cooperation in the energy sector, mainly in energy efficiency and conservation as well as environmental issues.

An External Affairs Ministry statement said that the two sides decided to consider the possibility of further cooperation in the establishment of statistics database in the sector concerned, including high energy-consuming industries where energy consumption have been growing in India in recent years.

The two sides also decided to closely cooperate in the development of infrastructure in the sector of electricity and energy such as deployment of highly efficient coal-fired power generation, pumped-storage power generation and power transmission systems, in order to cope with a rapid increase of electricity demand in India and promote sustainable economic growth.

Japan also agreed to extend its help in India's National Solar Mission in India. Both the sides will discuss the possibility of contribution by Japan’s technologies and products.

Both the countries also welcomed the progress of the Delhi-Mumbai Industrial Corridor Smart Community Initiative to develop next-generation energy infrastructure in an integrated manner by making use of Japan’s environmental and IT technologies such as photovoltaic power generation, smart grid, smart urban traffic system, water control, recycling and treatment and others which are also important from an energy point of view.

The two sides will explore possibilities of making these technologies come into wide use in India.