Fifth MOU on IT and services co-operation signed

February 24, 2000

The co-operation between Hong Kong and India has been brought closer following the signing of a Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) on information technology and services co-operation between the two places today (Thursday).

The Secretary for Information Technology and Broadcasting, Mr K C Kwong, representing the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region, and the Secretary, the Ministry of Information Technology, Mr P V Jayakrishnan, representing the Republic of India, signed the MOU.

"The signing of this MOU represents a significant step in the build-up of closer co-operation between India and Hong Kong," Mr Kwong said.

He noted that as the constraints of time and distance were inexorably eroded by advances in information and telecommunications technology, people from different parts of the world could now aspire to work together in a seamless manner wherever and whenever they are.

This global connectedness brings with it enormous business opportunities as well as challenges, he said. "Businesses are no longer facing competition only from their immediate neighbours, but they are also no longer limited to co-operation with those in their neighbourhood.

"In the globally connected world of the 21st century, international co-operation to face up to global competition is therefore the key to success. And this co-operative spirit is central to the MOU that we are signing today," Mr Kwong stated.

The Hong Kong-India MOU, the fifth sealed between Hong Kong and overseas countries, contemplates an extensive range of co-operative activities, from commercial and industrial exchanges to investment and technology partnerships, from educational and learning exchanges to the sharing of policy and regulatory information.

The HKSAR Government has since May 1998 signed MOUs on IT co-operation with Canada, Australia, the United Kingdom and Finland. Under these MOUs, Hong Kong and its partners have organized a number of activities which prove to be mutually beneficial and enriching.

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