Washington, Jan 15 India and the United States will strengthen cooperation in urban development as also safety and security of urban transport systems.

The agreements were reached during meetings here between visiting Indian Urban Development Secretary M. Ramachandran with the U.S. Housing and Urban Development Secretary Shaun Donovan and US Federal Transit Administration Administrator Peter M. Rogoff, according to the Indian embassy here.

At a meeting on Tuesday, Ramachandran and Indian Ambassador Meera Shankar exchanged views with Donovan on the challenges being faced by both countries in urban planning and development and agreed to identify priority areas of cooperation in urban development sector.

The areas discussed included the municipal bond market, urban sanitation, energy efficiency, development of national building standards, capacity building, public private partnership, and safety and security of the urban transport systems.

Earlier Ramachandran and Rogoff reviewed the implementation of the India-US Memorandum of Understanding signed in 2007 between the US Department of Transportation and the Indian Ministry of Urban Development. They agreed to strengthen cooperation in priority areas including on the safety and security of the urban transport systems.

Ramachandran invited Administrator Peter Rogoff to visit India to attend the Urban Mobility India Conference and Expo being held in New Delhi on December 3-5, 2010.

Ramachandran on Tuesday delivered a keynote address on Urban Renewal in India — Opportunities for the Private Sector at a business event organised by the U.S. India Business Council. He also addressed 89th annual meeting of the Transportation Research Bureau of the U.S. Department of Transportation here.

During meetings with the U.S. officials, he highlighted the success story of Jawaharlal Nehru National Urban Renewal Mission which has seen a catalytic investment of over ten billion dollars in urban sectors such as transport, water and waste water management, solid waste management, housing and slum infrastructure across 63 'mission cities' in India.

He also mentioned the National Urban Transport Policy (2006), which provides strategic guidance for an increasing number of regional and local initiatives to improve urban mobility across India's states and cities.