China and India to connect over IT
( 2003-06-27 09:11) (China Daily)
China and India should work together more closely to enhance their partnership in the information technology (IT) sector, said visiting Indian Prime Minister Atal Bihari Vajpayee.
A stronger partnership is important because the IT sector is "an area of particular promise in India-China bilateral co-operation," Vajpayee told a high-profile business forum yesterday in Shanghai.
Vajpayee arrived in Shanghai on Wednesday to continue his six-day visit after touring Beijing and the city of Luoyang in Henan Province.
India is widely recognized as a key player in the global IT marketplace. Its software exports accounted for a fifth of India's total exports in 2002-03.
China is also climbing quickly up the global IT ladder, with its huge number of personal computer users and netizens and its rapidly developing hardware and communications infrastructure.
An increasing number of Indian and Chinese companies in the sector have begun to explore cross-border business opportunities.
"In combination, rather than in competition, Indian and Chinese IT industries can be a potent force," said Vajpayee. "This is a principle which has far wider application in South-South co-operation."
IT industries in the two countries need to take more advantage of their respective core competencies to achieve an effective alliance.
They can, in the meantime, jointly seek business opportunities in big events like the Olympic Games in Beijing in 2008. "We could even think of a joint institutional mechanism between the two governments which could see whether modalities could be worked out for this," said Vajpayee.
Also, China and India are expected to share experiences in e-governance systems and raising public IT awareness that "could help develop better strategies in both countries to bridge the digital divide," he said.
Vajpayee's call for a stronger partnership in the sector was repeated by Shanghai Mayor Han Zheng.
"We have much more room for co-operation," said Han. He said he expects the prime minister's visit to spark deeper and broader IT business interactions between India and Shanghai.
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