Advisory Services Enviromental Management

Advisory Services Enviromental Management India and Germany agreed that environmental management is an important area in the framework of bilateral development co-operation. Environment is one of the most important areas in the Indo-German bilateral relations, especially in areas where Germany has comparative advantage with focus on knowledge transfer, technology transfer, exchange of experiences and demonstration projects. To enhance the success of the previous joint work, the German Agency for Technical Cooperation (GTZ) and the Ministry of Environment and Forests of the Government of India (MoEF) decided to work in a structure called Advisory Services in Environment Management. The structure is within the scope of the bilateral negotiations between the Republic of India and the Federal Republic of Germany held on September 5, 1996 in pursuance of the Agreement of 31December, 1971 between the two Governments regarding Technical Cooperation as amended by the Arrangement of 8th February/1st March 1979.On 24 May 2002, the Indian Government had conveyed approval for commencement of the orientation phase of the Advisory Services in Environmental Management (ASEM). The opening phase was for the period 2002 to 2005. In the Indo-German negotiations held in January and July, 2004 it was decided to extend the ASEM programme till 2008. Based on the recommendations of the Expert Mission in April 2008, the second phase of ASEM started from January 2009 and till December 2012. Since the orientation phase, ASEM has increased steadily in terms of work areas, activities, and institutions involved.