India and Norway have agreed to jointly work in the area of marine spatial planning in the oceanic space for the next five years. <br />''<br />''The two countries have decided to extend support for sustainable ocean resources utilisation to advance economic and social development in coastal areas. <br />''<br />''The initiative known as Marine Spatial Planning will be implemented by the Ministry of Earth Sciences through National Centre for Coastal Research for India.<br />'' <br />''In this regard, the first project steering committee meeting was successfully conducted virtually recently, after which the two countries have charted out a plan to ensure that human activities at sea take place in an efficient, safe, and sustainable manner in areas such as energy, transportation, fisheries, aquaculture and tourism. <br />''<br />''<span style="color: #222222;">This is a part of the Indo-Norway Integrated Ocean Initiative under the Memorandum of Understanding signed between the two countries in 2019. Lakshadweep and Puducherry have been identified as pilot sites for the project.</span><br />