The Union Cabinet on Wednesday approved the Joint Declaration of Intent (JDI) between Germany and India regarding their cooperation in the sector of alternative medicine.

The announcement was made by Finance Minister Arun Jaitley after the cabinet meeting chaired by Prime Minister Narendra Modi.
Initiation of collaborative research, training and scientific capacity building in the field of alternative medicine under the JDI between the two countries would contribute to the enhanced employment opportunities in the Ayush sector, according to an official statement released by the government.

It informed that there are no additional financial implications involved.The financial resources necessary to conduct research, training courses, conferences and meetings will be met from the existing allocated budget and existing plan schemes of Ministry of Ayush, it said.
It further explained that India has well-developed systems of traditional medicine, which hold tremendous potential in the global health scenario and Germany has considerable interest in traditional systems of medicine.