Swain To Promote Kiwi ICT Opportunities In Singapore And India

Commerce, Communications and Information Technology Minister Paul Swain leaves for a nine-day mission to Singapore and India on November 28th.

Paul Swain said the trip was designed to promote business opportunities between New Zealand and Singapore and India – particularly in the IT industry.

“In Singapore I will be meeting with key ministers and groups to push the case for a closer working relationship under the CEP, particularly in the areas of research and development in the IT industry.

“I will be visiting a new tech park in Singapore that is designed to provide a ‘forward post’ for New Zealand businesses to establish themselves in Singapore and expand into other parts of Asia.

“In India I will be forging closer links with what is becoming a critical market for New Zealand. India is now one of the world’s foremost producers of IT skills, and it is important to have a good relationship with such an IT powerhouse.

“In India I will be signing a formal arrangement on cooperation in the area of IT with my counterpart – the Indian IT Minister Hon Pramod Mahajan.

“That arrangement is designed to facilitate co-operation between the IT industries of both countries, particularly at the private sector level between the IT associations of both countries, ITANZ and NASSCOM.

“I will also be delivering a key note address to 19th Asian-Oceania Computing Industry Organisation Conference in Delhi,” he said. The Conference will bring together computer organisations from the Asia-Pacific region and beyond, and will be opened by the Indian Prime Minister.

Paul Swain will also be meeting with venture capitalists and expat-Kiwis in both countries. He will also visit India’s three largest exporters of computer software.

“It is important that New Zealand business is on the radar screen in Singapore and India, and I will be making sure that happens,” Paul Swain said.

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