Aust signs MoU with India

Australia has signed a memorandum of understanding (MoU) with India, which aims to encourage cooperation between the two countries in the ICT space.

Senator Helen Coonan, Minister for Communications, IT and the Arts, said that India, like Australia, makes a substantial investment in ICT. “The MoU recognises the important role of business to business contacts in progressing our relationship,” she said.

"This MoU is a formal expression at government to government level of our mutual desire to foster the good relationship between our two countries,” Coonan said.

It aimed to promote "further cooperation between the two countries in developing their ICT industries and to strengthen the bilateral relationship and business linkages in ICT", according to a statement from the Minister's office.

IT security, internet applications, advanced communications technologies, e-commerce and multimedia content development were among the areas for cooperation under the agreement.

The MOU was signed last week in Delhi, India and runs for four years until October 2009, the statement said.

The first meeting of an Australia-India government and industry joint working group which was established to implement the MoU was held on 21 October in Delhi.