Cabinet approves pacts on technological cooperation with Tanzania, Saudi Arabia

New Delhi: The Union Cabinet has approved two technological cooperation agreements signed separately with Tanzania and Saudi Arabia, according to an official statement.

The agreement in the case of the United Republic of Tanzania is on digital public infrastructure.

A memorandum of cooperation between India and the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia was signed for digitisation and electronic manufacturing.

The agreements were approved by the Cabinet chaired by Prime Minister Narendra Modi.

The cabinet 'was apprised of an MoU signed on 09th October 2023 between the Ministry of Electronics and Information Technology of the Republic of India and the Ministry of Information, Communication and Information Technology of the United Republic of Tanzania on cooperation in the field of sharing successful Digital Solutions implemented at Population Scale for Digital Transformation,' an official statement said.

The MoU intends to promote closer cooperation and exchange of experiences, and digital technologies-based solutions in the implementation of digital transformational initiatives of both the countries, it added.

With this agreement, both government-to-government and business-to-business bilateral cooperation in the field of digital public infrastructure (DPI) will be enhanced.

'The activities contemplated in this MoU would be financed through their administration's regular operating allocations. MoU envisages improved collaboration leading to employment opportunities in the field of IT,' the statement said on the pact with Tanzania.

MeitY is collaborating with a number of countries and multilateral agencies to foster bilateral and multilateral cooperation in the ICT domain.

This year MeitY has entered into agreements with its several peer organisation agencies from various countries to promote cooperation and exchange of information in the ICT domain.

The agreement is the outcome of India's leadership in the implementation of Digital Public Infrastructure (DPI) and the successful delivery of services to the public even during the COVID-19 pandemic.

The technological infrastructure and solutions like Aadhaar, UPI, and CoWin can help partnering governments in improving governance and delivery of public services.

The Cabinet was also apprised of a memorandum of cooperation(MoC) signed on August 18, 2023, between the Meity and the Ministry of Communications and Information Technology of the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia on cooperation in the field of digitisation and electronic manufacturing.

The pact intends to strengthen collaboration in the fields of digitisation, electronic manufacturing, e-governance, smart infrastructure, e-health and e-education, promote partnership in research in digital innovation and the use of emerging technologies, such as Artificial Intelligence (AI), Internet of Things (IoT), robots, cloud computing and blockchain, etc, the statement said.

'This MoC would establish a framework for cooperation in the area of digitisation and electronic manufacturing and establish partnerships between India and Saudi Arabia,' the statement said.

The agreement aims to promote ways of innovative training and development through e-teaching, e-learning and exchange programs in digitisation and electronics manufacturing and to develop joint training programmes for capacity building and access to highly skilled IT and telecom technologies professionals.

It seeks to strengthen the SME and start-up ecosystem by sharing information on business accelerators, venture capital and incubators of technology startups, which would indirectly generate employment opportunities for both parties, the statement said.