A high-level British delegation led by Hammond today called on Badal here this evening and apprised him about cordial ties between Punjabis and British and their enormous contribution in the socio-economic development in the United Kingdom, said an official release here.
The visiting UK Foreign Secretary also showed a keen interest in providing Punjab technical know-how in the field of solar energy and power generation from biomass.
Agreeing with the Chief Minister's proposal, Hammond said these meetings should not merely be a formality rather they must be result-oriented and the deliberations held on various aspects and proposals should be meticulously followed up in order to crystallize into action the exchange of ideas between the partners.
Badal also sought technical collaboration for efficient utilization of abundant stock of biomass (paddy straw) for power generation, besides exchange of technical knowledge for adoption of the best practices in power generation, transmission and distribution.
More From This Section
The Chief Minister hoped that these skills development centres would help state's unemployed youth to be gainfully employed not only in the country but across the globe also.
He also urged the British delegation to establish education and healthcare institutions of international repute in the upcoming Educity and Medicity in new Chandigarh.
Highlighting the significance of English language as a 'global link' of communication in the world, Badal called upon Hammond to send a delegation of English school teachers from UK to make students, especially ones with rural background, proficient in the spoken as well as written English.