Free trade in IT services may help beat slump: PM

Our eFE Bureau

New Delhi, Dec 6: To cushion the impact of the ongoing slowdown, economies like India should encourage free trade in IT services and free movement of professionals, said Prime Minister AB Vajpayee while inaugurating the 19th Asian Oceanian Computing Industry Organisation (Asocio) 2001 general assembly and symposium here on Thursday.

“Broader and deeper collaboration between our R&D establishments will help us. For all this, we need to remove visa restrictions and facilitate easier work permits for knowledge workers,” he, adding his government has decided to provide major policy and fiscal support to infoteck and technology, specially to e-governance, in the 10th Plan.
“We shall implement a comprehensive strategy for hardware, software and training support for all government and semi-government agencies which deal with the public,” he said.

Further, the government also intends to increase the use of IT at primary, secondary and tertiary levels. Facilitating the provision of IT infrastructure, legal underpinning to e-commerce/e-governance transactions and strong commitment to governance reforms, were key public policy ingredients for ensuring increased the use of information technology in governance and education, he said.

IT & communications minister Pramod Mahajan said, “infotech is not only the fastest moving technology and business but also a language of communication”.

Meanwhile, Associo in its meeting has proposed to establish Asean IT city connectivity and has taken an effective discussion on government procurement.

Delegations from 10 countries across the Asia-Pacific region, including Japan, Australia, Singapore, New Zealand, Korea, Taiwan, Malayasia, Indonesia, Hong Kong, and Bangladesh, are participating in the ‘government and industry: business in the digital economy”, organised by Nasscom and Asocio.