India, Singapore to forge closer communication ties

By Amit Baruah

SINGAPORE, JULY 3. Singapore and India have agreed to foster ``closer'' collaboration in the field of information communication technology (ICT).

The second meeting of the Singapore-India ICT Task Force, held here on Monday, ``expressed a strong commitment to jointly promote ICT developments.'' The areas identified for cooperation included an Asia Belt of IT cities, as proposed by Singapore, a Media Laboratory Asia Project, proposed by India, E- commerce and Info-society and the exploration of third country markets.

A Singapore Government release said the task force noted the ``growing industry partnerships, strategic alliances, joint events and collaborations between the various institutes of higher learning.'' It specifically noted the continuing partnership between SingTel and Bharti in implementing India's first private submarine fibre optic cable linking Singapore, Chennai and Mumbai; the setting up of operations here by several Indian IT companies like Infosys, Mindtree Consulting, Odyssey and Satyam and the establishment of development centres by Singapore companies such as Edgematrix, Intiqua and SNS in India. The task force meeting, co-chaired by Mr. Alan Chan, Permanent Secretary, Ministry of Communications and Information Technology, Singapore, and Mr. Rajeeva Shah, Secretary (IT), India, was attended by Government officials and representatives of industry organisations from both the countries.

``I am very pleased that both India and Singapore have recognised the vast potential of ICT and have come together to address the challenges of the new economy. I am heartened by the progress of the second task force meeting and look forward to even closer collaborative efforts between our industry players in the near future,'' Mr. Alan Chan was quoted as saying in the statement.

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Section  : International
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