NASSCOM inks MoU with BITKOM

BANGALORE, INDIA: NASSCOM, the premier trade body and the “voice” of the Indian IT industry, signed a memorandum of understanding (MoU) with German Association for Information Technology, Telecommunications and New Media (BITKOM).

The MoU would encourage contribution towards growth and development of ICT sectors in both countries.

As a part of this MOU both bodies would outline and implement joint activities focused at further strengthening understanding and co-operation between the ICT industries of India and Germany. The two secretariats of BITKOM and NASSCOM would act as primary channel for the co-operation between ICT industries of the two countries and wherever possible include third parties such as trade chambers; associations etc. in their joint endeavours.

Ameet Nivsarkar, VP, NASSCOM, said “NASSCOM hopes to further strengthen ICT collaboration between India and Germany. Collaboration has become crucial in today’s economic scenario, this partnership will play a key role in facilitating mutually beneficial business opportunities in both the countries. Given the growing international interdependence in the ICT sector and in particular the close business relationship between Indian and German ICT companies focusing on business process outsourcing, we are confident that this partnership will play a vital role in the development of the ICT sectors in both countries and contribute towards creation of a global knowledge society.”

Various activities to be undertaken as per the agreement include:

· Encouraging participation of member companies to trade fairs and conferences such as CeBIT or the NASSCOM, starting with the NASSCOM leadership forum (Mumbai) and CeBIT 2009 (Hannover).

· Organizing an annual conference to support the companies’ business development, starting with the Indo-German conference on May 14, 2009 (Cologne).

· Co-operating in each other’s respective surveys, studies, seminars, exhibitions and other activities, as appropriate. This includes examining a NASSCOM participation in market research activities in the framework of the European Information Technology Observatory (EITO).

· Fostering the exchange of trade missions and business delegations to both Germany and India, if wished so by the associations’ members.