Scotland has signed an agreement with India to boost green energy in the two countries.

A memorandum of understanding has been signed between the two governments, aiming to drive forward innovation in renewable energy and supporting the two governments' goals of increasing wind energy, solar power and biofuels.

It should lead to more joint working between Indian and Scottish universities and research centres.

The memorandum of understanding was signed during External Affairs Minister Mike Russell`s visit to India, with the trip aimed at building business and cultural links between the two countries.

Mike Russell said: "Like Scotland, India is blessed with an abundance of the natural resources needed to generate renewable energy and its government is clearly committed to exploiting this in order to secure its energy future and meet the current energy needs of remote and rural communities."

He added that Scotland had a "world leading position in the development of offshore wind" and stated: "The lessons learned will be vital to the future large scale deployment of offshore wind across the world."

The Government wants Scotland to become the green energy capital of Europe, and has set the target of having 50% of electricity demand coming from renewable sources by 2020. India, which has more than 7,000 kilometres of coastline, has a huge potential for generating power from offshore wind.