Mori proposes IT promotion initiative

BANGALORE: Japanese Prime Minister Yoshiro Mori, who is currently on a tour

of India, has proposed the launch of an information technology (IT) promotion

and cooperation initiative with India. Mori is the first Japanese Prime Minister

to visit India since 1990.

Speaking on "IT co-operation between Japan and India in the 21st

century", organized by the southern Karnataka state government in Bangalore,

Mori said the current co-operation between Japan and India in the IT field

remains low profile despite the great potential. "Accordingly, I would like

to reveal to you a proposal which would take the form of a Japan-India IT

promotion and co-operation initiative. I would like to show this to Prime

Minister Vajpayee," he said.

Mori said the Japanese government will dispatch a large-scale economic

mission to India led by the president of Keidanren, Japan Federation of Economic

Organizations and chairman of Japan-India Business Co-operation Committee. Along

with this, a delegation comprising executives from small and medium scale

enterprises from Japan will also visit India in early January 2001. The software

promotion bodies of both India and Japan will also sign a memorandum of

understanding on mutual cooperation. He said Japan would also expand its

training programs for Indian engineers on Japanese business practices and the

Japanese language so as to accommodate 1,000 trainees over the next three years.

"Also the government of Japan is about to launch an expansive measure on

the issuance of multiple entry visas for short-stay visits to Japan from India

for business purposes," Mori added. The Japanese Prime Minister said it was

also important that both governments maintain "closer dialogue on the

subject of IT as part of efforts to consolidate exchanges between private

sectors and of human resources." During the recent visit of the Japanese

minister for international trade and industry, both countries had decided to

start a dialogue on such policy issues as e-government and e-commerce. Mori said

vice-ministerial level dialogue is due to start in October this year. The

Japanese premiere has also invited India's minister for IT, senior state

government officials and IT leaders from the private sector to visit Japan and

hold a Japan-India information technology summit.

Earlier to this, Chief Minister of Karnataka SM Krishna made a presentation

to Mori to strengthen the relationship and substantially boost trade between

India and Japan. Proposing an "IT Combinat" in Bangalore he said,

"USA and Japan are the first and second largest IT markets in the world.

While Indian software trade with the US is 65 per cent, it is only 4 per cent

with Japan. To strengthen the relationship and substantially boost trade, we

propose an "IT Combinat" in Bangalore. This facility could house a

residential township, major IT firms like Hitachi, NEC, Toshiba and Sony, as

well as the wireless giant of the world, NTT DoCoMo. This facility could also

have a Language-Training Center, an institute for m-commerce and an

Indo-Japanese cultural center. This IT Combinat could take advantage of Mahithi,

the Millennium IT Policy of Karnataka. One of the objectives of this policy is

to encourage business with non-English speaking countries, like Japan."

On a visit to Infosys Technologies earlier in the day, the Japanese Prime

Minister said, "I think Japan and India should try and develop

complementary relationships in information technology (IT) and contribute to the

world at large." Mori said Infosys has anticipated the trends and has been

leading not only in India but the world over with its technical competent

engineers.

"Japan is an extremely important trade partner for India and especially

Infosys," Infosys chairman and CEO N R Narayana Murthy said while welcoming

the Japanese Premier.

The Japanese Prime Minister also participated in a live videoconference with

the head of Oki Customer Advanced Technology, a customer for whom Infosys has

developed a service information system. The project was completed in February

2000, according to project leader VM Vijaynandam. He said that 50 people had put

in 500 man-months on the project. Infosys was doing a second project for the

same customer for call centers, he said.

"For the past three to four years, we had a strong focus on Japan. Japan

is a very important market for us. And the visit of the Japanese Premier shows

that there is a raising perception of Infosys in Japan and India is being

considered a strong player in IT," said Infosys president and COO Nandan

Nilekani, addressing reporters.