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A Bridge Across Nations

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DQI Bureau
New Update

The India Week organized by the India High Commission in Singapore has led to

the strengthening of the relationship between India and Singapore. India Week

was to coincide with the visit of Prime Minister Atal Behari Vajpayee to

Singapore, but due to the September 11 attacks on the World Trade Center, India

was represented by Pramod Mahajan, minister for parliamentary affairs, IT and

communications and Murasoli Maran, minister for commerce and industry.

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PARTNERS

ALL: BG George Yeo and Murasoli Maran

Singapore

is home to nearly 6,000 MNCs, of which nearly 3,000 have their

regional HQ there. Simply put, the city is emerging stronger

Mahajan had signed an MoU on IT with the Singapore government earlier. This

time, there was a CEO meet followed by the inauguration of the India Center,

ISTEX expo and an ICT conference. The Infocomm Development Authority of

Singapore has opened offices in Chennai and Bangalore. The CEO meet dealt with

ways to leverage each other’s strengths with the aim of targetting the China

market. An India centre has been set up at Phase Z.Ro Technopreneur Park at the

Science Hub at Buona Vista. This has been accomplished by the Federation of

Indian Chamber of Commerce and Industry (FICCI), the IndUS Entrepreneurs (TiE)

Singapore Chapter, JTC Corporation, and Singapore Economic Development Board (EDB).

The center was inaugurated by Singapore’s minister for trade and industry, BG

George Yeo, and Murasoli Maran.

The center will help Indian software companies to showcase their

competencies. Singapore will also act as an ideal launch pad for Indian

companies planning to globalize their businesses as the country is home to

around 6,000 multinationals of which 3,000 have their regional headquarters

here. Singapore has a lot of financial institutions and VCs as well. Fast

Forward Technologies, Rapid Effet, Moksha Technologies, Zensar Technologies (S),

Integra Infotech, and Suntec Business Solutions have leased space at the India

centre. TiE Singapore will also be housing its secretariat function here.

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The India Singapore Technology Expo (ISTEX) was inaugurated

by Pramod Mahajan. In his inaugural address, Mahajan said, "India is a

nation of technology and its strength lies in the one million people who produce

technology whereas Singapore’s strength lies in usage of technology. The

India-Singapore relationship will be a firm step in bridging the gap between

product development and usage of twchnology".

The exhibition had participating companies like Network i2i,

Ramco Systems, TCS, Planetasia, Pentamedia, Pacific Internet, NIIT, MindTree

Consulting, Mascot Systems, Mahindra Industrial Park, KarTox Technologies, iback

office.com, eFunds International, and Cambridge Technology Partners.

A conference was organized by CII and PriceWaterhouse Coopers

highlighting ICT opportunities in India. India was representated by Pramod

Mahajan; Sanjiv Goenka, president, CII; Tarun Das, director general, CII; B

Ramalinga Raju, chairman, Satyam Computer Services; Sunil Bharti Mittal, CMD,

Bharti Enterprises and RS Pawar, chairman, NIIT. Kaizad Herjee, assistant CEO,

Infocomm Development Authority of Singapore; Yoong-Sim Hong Siang, CEO, Network

i2i; and Simon Lim, Head Infocomms & media, Economic Development Board.

Pravin Prashant/VOICE&DATA

in Singapore

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