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NT Bureau
Chennai, Jan 14:
 

Union Minister of Communications and IT Dayanidhi Maran  exchanging a draft at the Indo-Japan ICT Forum meeting with  his Japanese counterpart Yoshihide Suga in Chennai yesterday.

        Japan is favourably considering India's request for funding under Overseas Development Assistance (ODA) to its national gigabyte project being undertaken by the National Informatics Centre, a nodal agency set up to establish fibre optic network in the country.

        Expressing satisfaction over the progress of talks at the Indo-Japan ICT Forum, Union Minister of Communications and Information Technology Dayanidhi Maran said he had 'fruitful discussions' with a delegation led by his Japanese counterpart Yoshihide Suga. He said talks at the Joint Working Group at the ICT Forum was an on-going process structured to take forward the initiatives taken during the Prime Minister's visit to Japan in December 2006.

        During the talks Japanese Minister of Internal Affairs and Communication Suga had agreed to 'favourably consider' India's proposal for ODA funding to its prestigious Rs 1,500 crore fibre optic project which was expected to usher in IT revolution in rural areas and a plethora of e-governance initiatives at districts-level administration. The Union government has broached this subject when Prime Minister visited Japan and both sides had agreed to explore prospects for joint ventures in ICT sector. Leading a 20-member delegation, Yoshihide Suga was invited to visit Tamilnadu by Maran and at the JWG talks yesterday, the potential of the State in attracting IT investments and joint ventures was showcased by audio-visual presentation by the top officials of the administration.

        The JWG of the Indo-Japan ICT Forum would meet twice a year to discuss and identify projects in this sector where investments and joint ventures were possible and the next meeting was slated to take place within six months in Tokyo. Both sides expressed satisfaction on the development made so far and the projects being identified for joint ventures between the two countries and they further reaffirmed their commitments to carry forward the objectives of the ICT Forum to synergise the potential of the two countries, according to a release issued at the venue of the talks.

        State Industries Secretary Shaktikanta Das said the top officials of the government made a detailed presentation on the growth of IT infrastructure in the region and Tamilnadu as an investment of choice for Japanese delegation led by Yoshihide Suga. The Japanese team consisted of industry representatives from IT hardware, telecom and software. The Japanese team was invited to Chennai by Maran to know first-hand the opportunity presented to the businessmen here in the software and hardware sector.