Trade delegation from State to visit China

By Our Special Correspondent

BANGALORE, MARCH 10. A trade delegation from the State will be visiting China in April, the Minister of State for Information Technology, Mr. M.M. Nanaiah, said here on Saturday.

The delegation, led by him, would include representatives of the Federation of Karnataka Chambers of Commerce and Industry (FKCII). It would visit Beijing, Canton and Shanghai, and then go to Hong Kong to attend an international trade fair.

Mr. Nanaiah was inaugurating a workshop on ``Small and Medium Enterprises and Electronic Commerce: A Business Perspective'', organised by the federation and the ZDH Partnership Programme, Singapore. The SME sector was not much involved in software export, and accounted for only 16 per cent of it. This situation had to change, he said.

The Internet and e-commerce suited SMEs. Most of them were promoted by first generation entrepreneurs, who became successful due to hard and honest work, and could adapt well to new technology.

The State Government's efforts to help incubate SMEs in the IT sector included setting up of cyber parks in Bangalore, Belgaum and Shimoga. There were plans to set them up in Kodagu and Gulbarga also, and discussions were being held with the IT Secretary in this regard, he added.

Mr. Wong Chung How of the ZDH programme said China appeared to be ahead of India in creating IT infrastructure and had shown ``phenomenal development'' within a decade. There was a lesson for India in this -- it was not technology by itself but human resources trained to use it that made a country more competitive.

Mr. Peter Lee, coordinator of the programme, said IT and e- commerce were not confined to big corporates and could be used effectively by SMEs to grow and generate more profits. IT could make the use of logistics, human resources and marketing more effective. The ZDH was happy to be collaborating with the FKCCI.

The FKCCI President, Mr. K. Ramaswamy, said the markets were not confined to local or national geographical boundaries now. To compete in global market, SMEs had to learn to use the wide reach of e-commerce and other new technologies.

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Section  : Southern States
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