Modi seeks Chinese help for 'clean energy' generation

Ahmedabad, Nov 4 (UNI) Gujarat Chief Minister Narendra Modi today met the Chinese government's Finance and Economics Committee vice president Jia Zie and asked for their help in ''clean energy'' generation.

Mr Modi arrived in Beijing this morning and later attended a meeting of the India-China Parliamentary Friendship Group, according to a release here.

Mr Zie told Mr Modi that China considered Gujarat as a topmost state in terms of the economic development and had recorded a double-digit growth rate. He told Mr Modi that it was of mutual advantage to strengthen the bilateral and economic ties.

Praising the giant strides the state has made in petroleum sector, Mr Zie said he was impressed by the dramatic progress and offered help to the Gujarat government in its endeavour to set up a petroleum university.

Mr Modi stressed the need for Chinese cooperation in getting ''clean energy'' through micro-hydro power from the world's largest canal -- the Sardar Sarovar dam. He said if the Three Gorges dam in China was the biggest hydropower generation project in the world, the Narmada canal was the world's longest irrigation canal through which, clean energy can be generated with a joint Indo-China effort.

Mr Zie expressed his desire for a direct air link between Shanghai and Ahmedabad, saying that Shanghai and Gujarat represent the culture of modern-day progress.

Gujarat is a special economic zone (SEZ) capital and Shanghai is a successful SEZ city, he opined. If Gujarat is ahead in diamond industry, Shanghai is ahead in jewellery. So, in many areas, there was convergence of purpose in terms of development, he added.

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