NEW DELHI: Confederation of Indian Industry (CII) jointly with the ministry
of information technology & parliamentary affairs is sending a high level
20-member official and business delegation to Russia from 10th - 15th September
2001.
Building linkages between India and Russia in the Telecom sector, between
both the governments and Industry to industry is the main objective of the
mission, according to CII. A key component of the industry to industry linkage
would be cooperation between the private and public sectors, CII added.
The meetings with various government officials as well as industry
representatives would identify opportunities for Indian service providers in
Russia both in basic services and cellular services as well as value added
services and pay phones. In terms of products that could be exported to Russia,
CII stated that tremendous scope exists in the switching equipment, consumer end
equipment and cables segments.
To identify specific areas of Russian interest in the Indian Market, on the
other hand, the Indian delegation will be looking at Indian participation in the
satellite programme for Indian IT and Telecom Industry to use Transponders,
according to CII.
This mission is a prelude to the Prime Minister, Atal Behari Vajpayee's visit
to Russia later this year when a final memorandum is expected to be signed
between the two governments. The delegation is being led by Pramod Mahajan,
Minister for Communications, Information Technology & Parliamentary Affairs.
He will be accompanied by Shyamal Ghosh, Secretary, Department of
Telecommunucations & Chairman, Telecom Commission, B N Som, Secretary,
Department of Post, C V Rajan, Member (Technology), Telecom Commission,
Department of Telecommunications, Dhanendra Kumar, Additional, Secretary,
Department of Telecommunications, Ministry of Communications, N N Gupta, Dy.
Director General (International Relations) Department of Telecommunications,
Ministry of Communications and Vinod Dhamija, Dy. Director General (Philately)
& Secretary, Postal Services. The Business delegation accompanying the
Minister are from both the public and the private sectors.
The delegation is scheduled to have both official and business meetings with
their respective Russian counterparts in Moscow and St. Petersburg. The Russian
Government has expressed interest in the provision of telephone equipment,
peoples telephone and also for setting up of Telecom & IT training &
Software. During this visit, it is expected that the Minister would discuss and
finalise a framework for cooperation in the Communication sector between the two
countries.